Emilia
Emilia Benoit is a Singer-Songwriter, Performer, and Director based out of Massachusetts. Since picking up a guitar at the age of 9, and joining her first band (Watson & Co.) at the age of 12, she decided that creating music and performing as a multi-instrumentalist was something she wanted to pursue professionally. Her debut album Close To Me, encapsulates the triumphs, dreams, hopes, and frustrations of being a young adult in the 21st century. The record is composed of 11 songs, recorded in collaboration with other talented musicians that she is lucky enough to call her friends and family. Music is meant to capture a specific feeling or moment in time, and while some are written to stay tied to their origin story, others are meant to be left open to the listener's interpretation. In Close To Me, Emilia has embraced the ambiguity of her songs, allowing the listener to feel their own connection and walk away with their own meaning. She hopes that you give the album a listen, and (as Cleo likes to say), hold some piece of it close to you.
Cleo
Cleo is being forced to write this bio about themselves, and was also given the permission to say that. Now that we’ve moved past this, Cleo Esposito is also a Western Mass musician, who was mostly involved in their school’s music program and local (and state-wide!) vocal festivals. They’ve recorded covers in their closet for years, and this is their first “big studio” project. They’ve been surrounded by music their whole life, as well as being an alto, so helping out with the harmonies of the album was a fun endeavor. If you’re listening to any of the songs and have the thought, “Wow! That’s a lot of voices! And a lot of notes!” you can thank them for it. They play mainly ukulele (which may be on the next album. it didn’t fit this one), piano, alto saxophone, and even played drums in Watson and Co. for a few years before the pandemic. They’re working on their own project under the name elocin, and are super excited to see where Close To Me leads both them and Emilia.