More X Games Austin Music

Emily Wolfe

1:15pm, Sunday

Circuit of the Americas

Emily Wolfe took a Jekyll-and-Hyde approach to 2013. What began as a full-length's worth of material turned into two distinct EPs for the young Austinite. The rockist Mechanical Hands and pared down Night & Day split musical personalities.

"We thought that the acoustic half would go a lot better in the fall," explains Wolfe. "It's a cozy, 'Hey! Put your sweater on!' kind of thing. The rock & roll one came out during summer, and that was more like, 'Oh! Go to the beach with your friends.' We based it on how it would make us feel."

Still, with 2014 single "Swoon" as her banner, Wolfe seems hell-bent on going the full-throttle route. Gone are the acoustic days of Night & Day and debut, Director's Notes.

"Before I played with a band I was super folk, but then I finally got access to an electric guitar and I started playing rock & roll," says the young twentysomething. "The only thing I had when I did the first record was an acoustic guitar, a Casio keyboard, and a third-floor apartment I was afraid to make too much noise in."

She's unafraid of making noise with Spoon producer Mike McCarthy, who worked on her two EPs and just produced four new tracks. There are tentative plans for a vinyl LP stitching together her shorter works, including one due before her ACL Fest set in October.

"I'm a pretty placid person," she admits. "I don't have much energy. But when I get onstage I'm like, 'Let's go! Let's do it!'"