While the Internet has opened thousands of doors for musical promotion, many artists have been using movies and television to get their music out there. Ingrid Michaelson became a staple in most iTunes library when one of her songs was used on “Grey’s Anatomy” and Virginia natives Parachute are living up the success after an acoustic version of their song “She Is Love” was used in a Dove soap commercial. Synchronization licenses “" the rights to play a copyrighted song on the air “" are becoming one of the most sought after ways of promoting an artist.
Boston is embracing one such singer-songwriter, Emilie Mover, tonight. Mover, who will be performing in Cambridge at Toad this evening, has been gaining widespread recognition by following in Ingrid Michealson’s footsteps and being featured on “Grey’s Anatomy” twice this past season “" once in October and again in April. One of Mover’s songs will also appear in an upcoming episode of Jennifer Love Hewitt’s show “Ghost Whisperer.”
“It’s gotten the songs out there to a wider audience which is really [great]. I write two kinds of songs. One is more acoustic guitar-based and the other is more [poppy]. Those songs are the ones that get played [on the radio] obviously. Being on ‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ people get to hear all the types of songs that I have. The exposure obviously is the thing with those shows” said Mover in a phone interview with Blast.
As much as being featured on popular network television shows has done for Mover she confessed to Blast that she thinks it would be awesome to be featured on HBO’s polygamy drama “Big Love” or in a movie done by one of her favorite directors.
“I like the music on Big Love, but they play a lot of old music. I see a lot of movies and think, “ËœThat’s awesome’. You know the movies with the independent music, where the music is part of the scene. [I think it’d be awesome to be in a] Wes Anderson movie” she said.
Mover first started playing music in Toronto when she was 15, even though she grew up significantly influenced by her jazz musician father.
“My dad was a jazz musician and his whole life was just music. I got to hear a lot of amazing music from a really early age. At first I started singing and performing just jazz standards. I just had all these jazz standards at the core of my being” Mover said.
It wasn’t until her teen years that Mover began listening to pop music and developing her own style from that. She maintains that jazz musicians and the music she listened to while spending time with her father as a child are still huge influences on her though, even if they aren’t immediately apparent in her sound.
“It’s just funny because when you have this soft singer-songwriter type of thing going I think that there is a common misconception that their influences are just other soft singer-songwriters. I don’t think it’s necessarily that way for lots of them” Mover explained. “Influences for me are [people like] Stevie Wonder. I’d have to say for me that in terms of songwriting he’s the guy I look to most. It doesn’t even have to come across that way in my songs, it comes across completely differently. I think the bottom line is the love of the craft of songs.”
It is with that love of the craft of songs that Mover began playing her music in the bars of Toronto. While playing those shows Mover was connected with Sync Music, a synchronization company that put her music in commercials and eventually put her in touch with “Grey’s Anatomy.”
The songs featured on the show come from Mover’s first full-length record, “Good Shake, Nice Gloves”. The album for Mover became one half break-up soundtrack and the other half depicting life after heartbreak.
“The songs are really break up songs, on the first side. And then the second side is more after I’d gotten over it and was in a softer place. They’re more upbeat songs. I think it’s a good mixture because half of it is dead kind of music and the other half is waking up in the morning music. I really like that contrast” she said.
Mover’s show at Toad tonight is currently the last scheduled gig before she heads back into the studio in July to begin recording new songs.
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