The Quietus - A new rock music and pop culture website

Baker's Dozen

Proper Stories: Emilíana Torrini's Favourite Albums
Tom Hughes , August 29th, 2013 07:38

Ahead of the release of her sixth album Tookah next month, the Icelandic singer-songwriter scours her record collection (mentally) to pick her top LPs

Bill_callahan_1377774701_resize_460x400

Bill Callahan - Apocalypse
I chose this album because I wanted to put a recent record in my list, and I feel like I'm travelling with him. I think he is a phenomenal artist - he's even on my bracelet [Torrini shows a packed charm bracelet that includes a miniature silver Texan cowboy boot]. I went to Austin to meet him and write with him and this makes me think of that time. Just to have been in the same room as him and to see him... well, be very quiet! [laughs]

There's a song on Apocalypse called 'Drover', and I can't drive with it on because I just go, "aaaaaaaaargh!" and want to drive off a bridge and into a river! It makes me want to get out of the car and have a mad moment!

I really hope that he's the one who creates my memories. He's another one of those thrilling lyric writers. A lot of his songs feel like, when I'm sitting in my old people's home, I will say, "Yes, I remember when I was a prison guard and I took the prisoners with my rifle to the river and watched them bathe". Somehow the way he describes something that isn't in front of him, putting himself somewhere else like a time traveller, taking you with him to those places. He's almost like a film-maker.