Avalon Emerson & The Charm : Written Into Changes
I don’t put much stock in the idea that an artist can’t have their cake and eat it too, because those put the work can pull off the versatility to get there. San Francisco-born, New York-based artist Avalon Emerson has done just that throughout her career. She’s a tech house DJ by trade, but even before she released her 2023 debut album, & the Charm, which reconstructed the one-person genre into a complete band effort, that metamorphosis—though not quite as radical as Mount Kimbie going from future garage beatmakers to a four-piece indie rock band—always seemed within arm’s reach.
Emerson’s flirtation with similar electronic genres, especially as increasingly luminous, pulsing, and effervescent synths entered her vocabulary, has always possessed a crossover appeal. She opened her 2020 DJ-Kicks mix with a cozy cover of the Magnetic Fields’ “Long-Forgotten Fairtytale,” which points closer to New Order than her techno contemporaries. As expected, much of the remaining mix returns to her incisive beatmatching of propulsive, metallic four-to-the-floor rhythms.
In that opening DJ-Kicks moment, its eclecticism is the appeal—like anyone involved in music, Emerson has a thorough musical education. That this wasn’t a one-off is a revelation alone, as listeners eventually received more on & the Charm, also named after the band behind this side endeavour. It’s heavy on lyrics navigating anxieties, relationships, and adulthood, but most of it focuses on notions of change, of which Emerson has harnessed to her strength. The Emerson of today has landed on Written into Changes, carrying a livelier sound indebted to ‘80s–’90s dream pop and Balearic alt-dance. Finding out these songs began as solitary bedroom-pop recordings and DJ tools, they were literally written to accelerate change.
From the onset, there’s plenty of change. The opening baggy one-two punch of the laidback “Eden” and prismatic “Jupiter and Mars” embodies optimistic ‘90s indie pop like Saint Etienne, rather than mouthless techno. The candid title track and subdued closing numbers, “I Don’t Want to Fight” and “Earth Alive,” remarkably echo contemporary alt-pop singer/songwriters like Soccer Mommy, Lala Lala, and Snail Mail. Appropriately, the latter two numbers are Emerson accepting her inability to change people and see them as they are. While this shift seems like a far cry on paper, it’s otherwise in practice, as Emerson places her voice right at the front of these textural guitar-pop ruminations.
Even with her leap into pop arrangements, Emerson hasn’t abandoned her DJ sensibilities—some entries can neatly fit into mixes. If nu-disco is the theme, the Todd Terje-esque “Happy Birthday” is a euphoric stomp, which is deceptively uplifting by Emerson’s refrain: “Too young to die / Too old to break through.” On “Wooden Star,” arching synths dissolve into dense, crisp trip-hop as Emerson plaintively voices her defeatism with esoteric poetry—an immaculate addition to a contemplative after-hours set. “God Damn (Finito)” is mutant disco-like with a massive, pronounced bassline. Then, “Country Mouse” is an elated synth-pop delight driven by electrifying new wave guitar licks, its lovingly fast pace a product of being a musical ode to Emerson’s wife, Hunter. Emerson’s versatility on Written into Changes radiates confidence. She gradually stepped into a band dynamic on her previous record, but here, she’s skillfully consolidated it. Emerson has clearly put in the work for this alternative avenue to thrive, which she treats just as sincerely as her DJing. For anyone who never realized Emerson is a DJ first and foremost, Written into Changes now makes that fact even more astonishing.
Label: Dead Oceans
Year: 2026
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Avalon Emerson & the Charm : Written Into Changes
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