Common ground is always nice to find. Whether that’s on a first date or in the middle of a dicey peace negotiation, it can really make a difference to the outcome of the meeting. What’s rare, however, is finding more than just common ground – but stumbling upon a series of coincidences which make you feel as though the conversation you’re having is the work of serendipity.
This is what happened when I interviewed LA based singer Em Beihold. Not only were we of a comparable age, had similar stories of broken hearts and dealing with anxiety, but we also both used to be fencing champions.
We start off by chatting about her upcoming EP, ‘Egg in the Backseat’. When explaining the rather unusual title she tells me: “Growing up I used to tie my hair up in a really tight ponytail, so people used to call me ‘egg’ or ‘eggmily’, so I’ve always identified with them.”
Moving away from the inside joke however, I ask her whether the title relates to the themes of vulnerability that Em explores in the EP. “Yes, it does!”, she laughs. “Lots of anxiety themes and songs about boys doing boy things”.
In contrast to the subject matter of the EP, it seems as though the making of the record was anything but anxiety inducing. “I didn’t necessarily go into the studio with the intention of making an EP”, she tells me, “But I met these two people, [Dallas Caton, Alex Veltri], and we wrote ‘1,2,3,4,5’ in basically a day. Normally when you’re meeting new people the goal is just to see if you vibe with them, not to write one of your favourite songs, but we did.”
I ask Em if this level of creative ease is something she’s experienced before. “Alone I’ve had songs that just came out really quickly, but this was the first time it happened with other people”, she tells me. “Usually, the ones that come easily are the best, I wrote ‘Groundhog Day’ in just one session. Maybe if it takes me more than one session, I should just forget the song?” she poses, laughing.
This ease of innovation can potentially be linked to the fact that Em has been writing songs since the age of seven. When telling me how her musical journey started, she says: “I saw a piano in a shop window and thought that all the cool kids played instruments… I quickly learnt that wasn’t necessarily true”.
Continuing she says: “My parents said they’d pay for lessons if I practised, which I didn’t. But I started goofing off in lessons and messing around with chords and it quickly became my favourite thing to do and my form of therapy. I’ve never stopped since.”
As her parents seemed supportive of Em’s foray into music, I ask her if they’re musical themselves. She laughs out loud. “My parents wish they were musical”, she says, “I mean they try. They both like to say, ‘oh she got it from me’, but if you heard them both sing, you’d say… ‘are you sure?’”
Laughing, we turn to discuss her recent European tour, which it seems she’s not quite recovered from yet. “I was so sick for London and Amsterdam”, she tells me. “In London I could only play four songs, I literally threw up right before the show. But the crowd was amazing, everyone sang so loudly with me which was incredible as I was so low energy and basically dying a little bit. I had taken a voice note of me singing that morning and could barely even hold a note”.
I ask Em if this is her first experience of visiting Europe. She replies, “I had been to England and France when I was a kid, but I was too young to remember it. So, it was cool to go back as an adult, even though I was mostly in my hotel room being sick.”
“It was my first time in Amsterdam however, and I was really sad to return to the U.S. My guitarist and I flew back together, and I turned to him and was like, why do we live here? It’s just concrete and sadness.”
I commiserate with her on this fact, the Conservative leadership race is currently taking place where I’m based in London, creating yet another environment made up of concrete and sadness. However, Em is quick to tell me that she does find refuge in some parts of the U.S and is really looking forward to supporting indie-pop star King Princess in Seattle as part of their Autumn tour.
“It’s forestry and rainy which are my favourite vibes”, she tells me. “Whereas the middle of the US isn’t super great, and the East Coast is its own world, which is fun, but also crowded. So, that side is calmer. If I run away and go missing, I’ll probably be in Seattle”. I tell her I’ll alert the necessary authorities if this is ever the case.
Oddly it’s towards the end of our conversation that we discuss our rarest piece of common ground and I tell her I also used to be a fencing champion. Surprised, we start chatting about what we loved so much about the sport. “I loved how it was a mental game as much as a physical game,” she says, “like you don’t even realise that you’re working out. It was also how I bonded with my dad, he had been doing it for years and he taught me – so that was a big part of our relationship.” My dad also tried to practice with me, but with limited success.
I ask Em if she transfers any of the skills she learnt while fencing into her music career. “Definitely,” she replies. “Persistence and dedication are important in both. Like, you don’t always want to go to practice but once you get there its fine, and it’s the same with music. You don’t always want to make a Tik-Tok, or go to a session, but you have to. You’re not always going to be inspired, and while the idea of it is still fun, I don’t always have enough song ideas for sessions three times a week. But overall, what fencing taught me, is that it’s good to just flex that muscle.”
We end the conversation on another personal note. I ask Em what the future holds for her, and she replies, “really I just want to get a therapist, I haven’t found one yet, but I’m really excited about that”. I share my own journey of finding a therapist and tell her how happy I am now I have one.
She lets me know how happy she is for me, and we end the chat. I hang up slightly stunned. I think I just met my soulmate.
