Emoh (Reissue)

"Emoh was released in January 2005, within a day or two of my first child being born. I put my real name on it, and it felt like the beginning of a new, more confident era. At the same time, I was asked to rejoin Dinosaur Jr, and instead of spending the next year or so touring in support of Emoh, I started a Dinosaur Jr reunion that continues to this day. It was a bittersweet decision because the LP was warmly received and seemed to point to a self-reliant future.

Emoh is primarily an acoustic LP with live performances at its core (with many not-live embellishments), and that was a personal achievement for me. I'm still very pleased with it. Though my follow-up, Goodnight Unknown, went back inward and is, lyrically, more evasive, with Emoh I realigned myself with my craft. To describe what I do as a "craft" was something I was too self-conscious to do before that. I had embraced songwriting in a high-profile way and made myself solely responsible for the results. The fact that it coincided with becoming a father for the first time makes it a time marker and game changer that has been invaluable to me, serving to keep me focused and on track personally and creatively ever since." - Lou Barlow