Emily Rodgers pioneers shoegaze folk

Emily Rodgers was born in Tennessee and raised in Georgia before her family moved to Elkhart when she was 5 years old. After graduating from Concord High School, she studied English at Goshen College.

Other than a show on campus and a few solo gigs performing cover songs at The Electric Brew in Goshen and The Daily Grind in Elkhart, there is scant evidence of the musical career path Rodgers would embark on.

“I had a band there,” she says. “They were called The Openers. We had one show. It was our goal to open for someone.”

In 2003, Rodgers moved to Pittsburgh with the intent of starting a career writing and performing music.

“I just wanted to move to a bigger city,” she says. “A bunch of my friends ended up living here, so I just followed them. I liked it here, so I stayed.”

Rodgers began by performing cover songs by acts such as Gillian Welch and Over the Rhine, as evidenced by the folk sounds of her 2005 debut album “Emily Rodgers & Her Majesty’s Stars.”

“In college, I listened to a lot of folkier stuff,” she says. “Lately, I listen to a lot of different stuff.”

Rodgers’ eclectic musical tastes run from folk-rock bands such as Great Lake Swimmers to shoegaze bands such as My Bloody Valentine, which inspired her reverb-laden, astral folk sound she developed for her second album, “Bright Day,” released in 2009.

“My influences are half folkish, singer-songwriter and half older shoegaze bands,” she says. “I guess that is what my music ends up sounding like.”

In 2008, Rodgers signed to Misra Records, which released “Bright Day” and her new album “Two Years,” which came out in June. With artists such as Great Lake Swimmers, Destroyer and Phosphorescent, the label is a good home for Rodgers.

Noted producer Kramer (Galaxie 500, Low) manned the boards for “Two Years.” Rodgers says he was instrumental in developing the fresh layers and textures of her music.

“We worked together really well,” she says. “I can be really sensitive, but he knows me well enough that he was able to produce in a way that doesn’t make me feel bad. He would critique, but he was really, really into this stuff. He said something really nice in a press interview that I can’t believe. He basically said that my music is the only thing that is really doing it for him lately. That is a huge compliment.”

Nearly seven years separate the releases of “Bright Day” and “Two Years.” Rodgers admits that she is slow when it comes to writing songs.

“I have tried being more disciplined, the kind of writing of putting my butt in the chair,” she says. “I try to practice every day. I try to come up with something every day. It just doesn’t work for me. It’s there or it’s not there. Every song I have ever wrote has been recorded.”

Rodger’s ethereal music often contains dark, melancholy lyrics, so some people are surprised to find out that she is generally a happy person.

“It depends what day it is,” she says. “I think when people meet me, they are a little surprised. I can be gregarious when I need to be.”

Rodgers, who is also an English professor at Duquesne University and Community College of Allegheny County, was talking about this the other day with her friend and author Rick Moody (“The Ice Storm”).

“He asked me a question that was related to this,” she says. “I was just thinking about the false dichotomy we assign to artists. If your work is dark, people assume that you must be very shy, awkward and dark. I think that is a bit of an oversimplification. I find it stressful to be gregarious before and after a show. If I was famous enough, I would just pop in and play, and then be whisked away. But I’m not.”

Rodgers has played only about dozen shows this year and says that she doesn’t much like touring.

“Honestly, it really stresses me out,” she says. “I was talking with Kramer about it. He said touring is a different world. People think the only way you can sell records is by touring. We have the internet now. It’s different. I don’t know. Touring just takes so much out of me, especially as a smaller act. I am in charge of everything. If it is going to hamper your artistic output, I don’t care if you ever play a show again. Think about priorities. Some people love touring. I really, really don’t. I like playing. I just don’t love all the stuff around it, all the logistics and all of that.”

Rodgers has been back to Goshen to perform at Constant Spring and The Electric Brew since she left 13 years ago. Her show at Ignition Music Garage on Saturday will be her first at the venue.

“I haven’t been to Goshen in a long time,” she says. “Goshen is very, very different than it was. I am very impressed.”