Image: VimeoThis article originally appeared on Noisey Australia.Emma Russack is a Melbourne songwriter whose music balances incisive humor with passionate reflections on life and personal growth. The video for her new single, "If You Could See Me Now," presents an artist looking back at an old lover, sizing up that man against the woman she is now. The song is a resonating smoky slow jam, stripped down to a minimalist backing track paired with Emma’s occa-jazz-bar voice. The video is shamelessly wry, opening on the twitching buttocks of the old boyfriend as he wanks in the shower, constantly drifting into these brutally ironic reflections on what it means to “move on.”Unlike other songs for forlorn lovers, Emma dispenses with the soap-operatic truisms on life after love. Instead, we’re given a beautiful package of mixed feelings, a strangely honest portrait of an artist saying that certain romantic memories quietly linger on, even alongside a healthy sense of contempt for an ex. It’s this truthfulness that lets the video’s strong sense of humour sit so comfortably with the song’s sadness.
Emma's latest album 'In A New State' is available now through Spunk Records.