As the piano melody trills like warm, clashing ocean waves, Emerson Island — 29 year old Emerson Freybler, a substitute teacher at Roseville Area High School, unleashed his studio mix of “Fault Lines” in late January.
“It feels angelic and very real at the same time,” said Sophie Kogler, a senior at Roseville Area High School. “The piano scale in the back gives this idea of a new beginning.”
Even more aged musicians appreciate the composition of Fault Lines. “It gave me some ‘Tears For Fears’ vibes from the 80’s,” said Christopher Jannings, the Orchestra Director at Roseville Area High School. “It’s got some tasty chords in there too.”
The lyrics of Fault Lines depict a relationship that’s strained and damaged, one that feels as if it’s “100 degrees in May.”
As said in the beginning verses, “Were we given / Or taken / Our bodies don’t lie,” which tells a story of how the couple took their time for granted, followed by the outro: “You can play pretend / Say it’s not the end / But it won’t save us.”
The way the instrumental crescendos in the outro truly support the bittersweet nature of the song. When stripped down to just piano, the melodies feel lamentful and sentimental, which gains yearning and urgency undertones when the orchestra overpowers the piano.
The composition of the live version of Fault Lines was done by Emerson Island and RAHS 2022 graduate Lowjam, or Joey Kelly.
Lowjam and Emerson Island have previously collaborated on a piece in 2023, called “Desert Surfing,” but unfortunately, has been taken off of streaming platforms.
By the time Fault Lines had been out, it gathered around 400 streams. Compared to other local artists, those numbers are quite miniacuel, but Freybler holds an optimistic attitude.
The fault behind Emerson’s lines are a result of combining aspects of the natural world, and the chilling touch of personal experience.
“The way I relate to the song is that it feels like the way we relate to each other, and how it’s mirrored with our relationship with the planet,” explained Emerson. “I think of Fault Lines more like tectonic plates and volcanoes, as to oceans, like Seashells.”
The tectonic plate imagery is further confirmed by the drafted version of Fault Line’s lyrics, being “fall into a ghost / she curls in on herself.”
Emerson — like many artists — finds a lot of inspiration and fuel from breakups and personal experiences. Sometimes unintentional, the bittersweetness of breakups subtly creep their way into his songwriting.
“I kind of just naturally write in that direction,” said Emerson. “It’s kind of like writing all the little beautiful things in the relationship, but also it’s really sad.”
Emerson has entered many phases throughout his musical journey. It all started with piano lessons at the age of six, and his parents, most notably his father.
His father, Mark Freybler, always played the family piano, and has won the title of WAMI (Wisconsin Area Music Industry) Awards Nominee for New Age Music in 1996.
“Witnessing my dad play as a young child, I always thought what he did was magic,” said Emerson. “He plays by ear. No sheet music or anything, just playing all the keys like he’s making stuff up”
Once Emerson entered college in Eau Claire, he gathered with a couple students and formed a band called “Last Romantic,” based off of Nate Ruess’s album “Grand Romantic.”
“I was thinking about everything, and I came up with ‘Chance Romantic,’ but my band mates at the time said ‘people are just gonna think of Chance the Rapper,’” laughed Emerson. “So we kept on brainstorming and thought of ‘Last Romantic.’”
Their first ever release, “Strike a Match,” was released on April 13, 2018, and is still up to this day.
After college ended, the band moved from Eau Claire, Wisconsin to Saint Paul, Minnesota, which was a decision that didn’t end so well. They disbanded shortly after, as they didn’t do many shows, but still practiced with each other before they went separate ways.
Even though they put the “last” in “Last Romantic,” Emerson’s musical journey was one to last in a different sense.
Emerson left to go back to Eau Claire, where he went under the name “BrightsideMusicStation,” based off of the song “Brightside,” which was a part of Nate Ruess’s album “Grand Romantic.”
BrightsideMusicStation would occasionally stream on Twitch, and post covers on their Youtube channel. It didn’t last long, as Emerson moved to Minneapolis after a few years and moved over to “Emerson Island.”
Emerson’s inspirations weren’t always just his father and Nate Ruess.
ColdPlay’s Viva la Vida took Emerson by the hand and brought him to love his work, and to search for other bands to be inspired by. “I was like, ‘wow! Music can be so huge! It can be so beautiful, and airy, and just unlike any other music I’ve heard before!’” exclaimed Emerson.
My Chemical Romance was introduced to Emerson by a high school Buddy, which sits at top second of his most favorite bands of all time, Cold Play being at number one.
Fallout Boy came after, as a cousin burned a CD of the album “Infinity on High” back in his college days, which triggered a reaction deep within Emerson.
Emerson has tried a hand at songwriting in the past, but the lyrics never stuck to him. With the help of Fallout Boy, he took inspiration from the way they write, which has shaped his songwriting skills throughout the years.
Whenever Emerson became stuck, he would always shift over to the book club he participates in.
“I feel like I take a lot of inspiration from Earth, and natural symbols. Seashells, Fault Lines, and a lot of unreleased songs have a lot of natural elements in them,” said Emerson. “Our band right now has an unreleased song called ‘Dance Like Rain.’ We’re recording slowly, but steadily in my attic jam space.”
