Folkadelphia Session: Hemming
One of my favorite releases of the year comes from someone I know very well – don’t you just love that? The eponymous debut comes from Hemming, the moniker of Philly musician Candice Martello. Martello and I both attended college together (and, if we’re keeping score, so did James Clark Conner, our Folkadelphia partner and audio engineer). At the time, Martello started playing in a punk duo with Nick Fanelli called Omar (please give them a listen – they rule).
Anyway, life is crazy and random, especially if you’re viewing from the outside in. Martello and Fanelli ended up on the VH1 show Make or Break: The Linda Perry Project. Candice and her music rose to the top and helped secure her a deal with Perry’s record label, Custard Records. You can’t make this stuff up. Fast forward, Hemming has been playing shows left and right, going out on tour with Rachel Yamagata, recording an excellent Key Session, and now she’s currently out on tour with Chris Cornell – playing the Merriam Theater in Philly on 10/15 FYI.
Candice deserves all of the good coming to her. Since I’ve known her, she’s been one of the most creative and passionate people around. She has a knack for channel raw emotion directly into whatever she’s working on. Right now, that’s Hemming – songs imbued with aching and catharsis, writing about being down-and-out feelings and also about finding solace in her community, her friends. I’d go so far as to say that almost everyone in their 20s and 30s that has ever felt lost can relate to this record.
Hemming, alone with a guitar, can cause some damage and that’s what she proved during our Folkadelphia Session, which you can hear below.