- Bryon Harris
Karen Emeny - 'You Left Me with a Kiss"
Karen Emeny is a pop-folk singer-songwriter hailing from London, Ontario. Karen offers music that is both uplifting and meaningful. When Karen started writing, she set out to create a "refreshingly lighthearted" vibe without sacrificing emotional depth and she accomplishes that goal like a pro. After the release of her first EP, ‘Finding the Words,’ Karen started a new album titled ‘The Right Mistakes.’ Off the new album is the chart ready single, “You Left Me with a Kiss” and it’s a great introduction to Karen’s artistic achievements.
“You Left Me with a Kiss” showcases Karen’s ability to write an infectious song with memorable melodies that are sure to stick in your head leaving a long-lasting positive impression. The song kicks off right into the first verse. Immediately you hear that Karen’s voice has a soft, pure tone that entrances you with its laid back style. The musical foundation of first verse is comprised of acoustic rhythm guitar and bass with touches of vocal harmonies. This minimal accompaniment shows off Karen’s vocal appeal before the arrangement continues to build throughout the song.
“You Left Me with a Kiss” is a classic tale of moving on from a relationship that wasn’t going anywhere. Karen begins to paint this story for us in the first verse singing, “You left me with a kiss. It was meaningless, a sad-sorted goodbye. Sinking like a stone, out of my control, it lingered in my mind.” She then reinforces this theme singing, “I don’t need someone who’s not ready to be someone. I don’t need someone like you.” As you find yourself singing, swaying and even dancing along with a smile, feeling good, you realize that the song isn’t necessarily about a happy subject yet at the same time it’s empowering and fun with a great beat.
Karen’s music uplifts you while the lyrics speak of the fragility of love and relationships. She employs poetic depictions like “The ice is nearly thawed, the beating starts again. The crack in my heart is now paper thin” making for a deeply reflective song. “Left Me with a Kiss” is a sophisticated song as it is no easy task to write music that can pull off the dichotomy of an upbeat, major key song with catchy melodies while delivering meaning and message with poetic depth and Karen does it like a master.
The structure of the song is verse-chorus, verse-chorus, bridge, chorus and an outro. In “You Left Me with a Kiss” the verses are just as catchy as the chorus and the transition from verse to chorus is very smooth. The bridge section is well–written leading to the last chorus which thins out a bit, with a gradual ritardando, and the exit of some instrumentation, to make way for a lovely violin solo before kicking back into full gear for the ending. The musicianship is tight; the production and mix are high quality. Everything in the song just seems to fit perfectly into place.
Karen’s music appeals to the masses with easy to relate to vocals, infectious tunes and reflective/poetic lyrics wrapped up in music and beats that lift you up. “You Left Me with a Kiss” is just one great example of Karen's ability to captivate listeners and deliver a fun and thoughtful music experience. Karen released another single from her upcoming album titled, “Maybe Tomorrow.” Her music is available on most major online music retailers. For more information about Karen visit, her Facebook page.