Start Listening To: Llinos Emanuel
From heartfelt melodies to celebrating her Welsh roots, Llinos Emanuel shares the stories and inspirations behind her music.
Welsh singer-songwriter Llinos Emanuel is a rising talent blending jazz-inspired pop with deeply personal storytelling. With a voice that conveys both vulnerability and warmth, she crafts songs rich in melody and emotion. Following the success of her bilingual single Golden/Unlle, Llinos returns with her latest release, Share a Dance With Me, a track inspired by a life-changing moment with her fiancé, Twm Dylan. We caught up with Llinos to discuss her creative process, the importance of her Welsh heritage, and the joys (and challenges) of balancing music-making with wintery escapades under duvets in hotel rooms.
For those unfamiliar with your music, can you tell us who you are, where you’re from and about the music you make?
I’m Llinos Emanuel, I’m from Wales hence the incredibly Welsh name, and I make jazz inspired pop and singer-songwriter music.
Your new single, 'Share a Dance With Me', is a deeply personal track. What inspired you to turn this moment with your fiancé, Twm Dylan, into a song?
As with most of the songs I write I don’t usually have a preconceived idea of what I want to write about. I very much focus on the melody; lyrics have always come secondary. Despite this I always end up writing deeply personal songs even if I don’t recognise that at the time. In all honestly this song just came to be in a writing session, and it was only later that I realised that it told the story of the night I met my now fiancé, Twm Dylan.
How did the collaborative process with Twm unfold while co-writing and recording this song? Did it deepen the connection you were capturing in the music?
I wrote the first verse of the song by myself, and I was extremely excited about it, so I played it to Twm who also saw its potential, and we finished the song there and then. Twm and I work so wonderfully together. Despite starting the song on the piano, when we write together, Twm always ends up on guitar giving me the space to improvise the melody, not thinking too much about the chord progression. I find this gives me so much more freedom, and it most definitely brings a deeper complexity both melodically and lyrically to the song.
The song has a warm and intricate arrangement. Can you tell us more about the production process?
I wrote the song in September, so the production process needed to happen extremely quickly for the song to be out before December. I hadn’t planned on releasing another track this year but as soon as we finished ‘Share a Dance With Me’ I knew it was special and it had such a wonderful warm, wintery feel that it needed to be released as soon as possible. Twm and I lay down the basics of the track from our home studio, Twm recorded the piano and bass, and then I was able to work with Harry Tarlton, a fantastic producer based in Swansea to record the lead vocals. From there I recorded the layers of backing vocals from home and co-produced the track with Harry remotely. I had a pre-booked trip to France during the recording process so some of the vocals were recorded in a hotel room in Provence under layers of duvets for the soundproofing. Not a very relaxing trip I must say but all worth it to have the song out in the world.
Artists like Laufey and Bruno Major are mentioned as comparisons. How do these influences shape your sound, and who else has impacted your musical style?
I think I just enjoy the music of artists like Laufey, and Bruno Major so I play their music a lot and it seems to seep into my music making. I share some similarities with both, in that we studied jazz at music college, but then have departed from straight ahead jazz while remaining heavily influenced by it. With Laufey I adore how she effortlessly layers vocal harmonies in her tracks, and with Bruno Major I love how he navigates complex chord progressions with the most gorgeous, singable melodies. I also adore Lizzie McAlpine, her lyricism is fantastic, and I wish I could write more like her. As someone who gets to lyrics last in the songwriting process, I am so intrigued by artists like Lizzie who centre their songs around the lyrics.
The depth of emotion in your vocal performance is stunning. How do you approach conveying vulnerability and complexity in your singing?
I usually tend to record lead vocals myself at my home studio, but this time I decided to go to Harry’s studio, and it was a game changer for me. It was my favourite vocal session that I’ve ever done. I have a keen ear for accuracy and tuning but Harry has a wonderful way of just listening to the emotion of a take. He really forced me to slow down, and hone in on the emotion of the song. One of my favourite moments was when we were recording the line “always one to shy away but the wine it makes me stay”, and Harry wanted to convey that feeling of tipsiness in the way I was phrasing “but the wine it makes me stay” so we spent a lot of time working on bringing that feeling to life.
With 'Golden' and its Welsh version 'Unlle' receiving acclaim, how important is it for you to celebrate your Welsh roots in your music?
It’s so important to me to celebrate my Welsh roots in my music. I grew up in a Welsh speaking household, I went to a Welsh speaking school, I spent my childhood singing in Welsh, and listening to Welsh music so feels right to sing in both Welsh and English. For this song, despite the quick turnaround I also wanted to release a Welsh version called ‘Cadwa Ddawns i Mi’ and I’m so grateful I did because it’s already been welcomed by so many people and has been chosen as ‘hottest track of the week’ by BBC Radio Cymru. I love having both a Welsh and English version of my songs because a non-Welsh person can hear Welsh language music, perhaps for the first time ever, via a familiar song. The continuation of the Welsh language is so important to me, and by releasing music in Welsh I hope I’m doing my little bit to keep it going.
How has your time with Archie and your experience with vocal harmonies influenced your solo work?
My time with Archie most definitely influenced my solo work. I arranged for the band, so I was tasked with arranging all our songs in four-part harmony. During our time together I learnt so much about voices, chord progressions, and harmony just through experimenting. I like to think of my solo work as Archie arrangements on steroids, I’m no longer confined to four voices, I can arrange for an unlimited number of voices, I think I have twenty in ‘Share a Dance With Me’. I still use so much of what I learnt during our time together.
You’ve worked with incredible artists like Jacob Collier and Tom Odell. What did you learn from those collaborations, and how have they influenced your artistry?
Just being in the same room as people like Jacob Collier and Tom Odell is incredible. They have a magical energy about them and it’s infectious. Jacob especially is such an inspiration to me. I sang with him for a session he did on The Jazz Show with Jamie Cullum on BBC Radio 2. I was asked to write a vocal arrangement for one of his songs ‘Make Me Cry’ and I don’t think I’ve ever been more nervous than having to show him what I’d written. As one of his performances for the session Jacob improvised a song, and I thought it was madness to improvise a song for live radio but that’s the thing about him, he sees so much beauty in first takes, and the raw emotion that can often capture. As a perfectionist I’m always re-doing things until their technically perfect, but I often find that the feeling of a first take can’t be replicated. I try and apply that to my music and life as much as possible.
Launching your debut single at a sold-out Green Note must have been incredible. How does performing live influence your relationship with your music?
Performing live for me is the best part about writing music. There is no greater feeling than being on stage, bearing my soul and sharing that moment with the audience. I love the freedom of a live performance. I’m not seeking the same perfectionism that I would on a record, I aim to be playful and try new things. It’s also interesting to see which songs resonate with the audience. I’ve most definitely chosen to record certain tracks based on the feedback from live audiences. Performing with a band is also an electric experience. The feeling of locking in with the band and reacting to the interplay between the other musicians is like nothing else in the world.
From 'Golden' to 'Share a Dance With Me', how has your approach to songwriting evolved over the past year?
Over the last year I’ve found that my songwriting has become more playful, less precious, and I’m more open to trying new ways of writing. I’ve also been making a lot more time to write and so there’s less urgency to write the perfect song, and more space to just let ideas flow through me. One thing that I’m looking forward to in the new year is participating in more co-writing sessions. I’ve only done a few in my time. I love writing alone but I’m excited to see how that challenges me and helps me grow as a songwriter.
Share a Dance With Me' has a warm, wintery feel. Was that intentional, and how does the season play into your creative process?
This song isn’t explicitly a Christmas song, but it feels wintery, and I like to think of it as a Christmas party or New Years Eve song. It being a ballad, the layers of harmonies, and the strings, the song was inevitably going to sound more wintery, but my fiancé and I met at a party in the depths of winter, so I wanted to capture that feeling in the production, especially the middle 8. I always picture the scene from ‘The Snowman’ when the snowman and the little boy are flying over the houses as the snow falls when I hear the middle 8.
What do you love right now?
Low lighting, candles, blankets, cups of tea, mulled wine, anything that will get me in the Christmas spirit.
What do you hate right now?
Cold white Christmas lights. Only warm white lights are allowed to be Christmas decorations.
Name an album you’re still listening to from when you were younger and why it’s still important to you?
Ella Wishes You a Swinging Christmas. I grew up listening to this album every Christmas, nothing gets me in the mood more than the effortlessly luxurious voice of Ella Fitzgerald and her exquisite big band arrangements.
What’s next for Llinos Emanuel? Are there plans for touring, or new directions you’re excited to explore?
I’m currently working on EP set to be released next year. This will be my first larger body of work, all my other releases have been singles and weren’t written as a cohesive project, so I’m really excited about releasing something of substance. It’s still very early days in terms of the recording process but I have been gigging the songs and posting snippets on social media to see what seems to do well and I think I’ve got a lovely mix of sounds on the record. I’ll be staggering the EP release throughout the year so I’ve got a busy year ahead of me, but I think a proper Christmas single to top it all off will be inevitable, I’ll just have to make sure I’m a little more organised next year and not leave it until the very last minute.
