Photo of Scout Niblett from the artist website.

There is no smoke and mirrors when listening to Scout Niblett. Her vocals are completely unburied and it’s possible to hear the bite and snarl in her voice as she says things like “Get out my way” and “I think I’m going to buy me a gun.” There’s nothing hiding her pain and anger on this year’s disarming LP It’s Up to Emma, and the addition of instruments besides guitar and drums are so rare that it actually accentuates her raw, emotional output.

We caught Niblett over the weekend at the Hopscotch Festival in Raleigh, NC and she was one of the standout performers making their way to the District. In advance of tonight’s show at Comet Ping Pong tonight, we talked to Niblett about the vision for this album and why she dresses as Snow White in her most recent music video.

DCist: Why do you choose in your artistic work to go by Scout instead of Emma?

Scout Niblett: I don’t really know. I just think I could be a bit more free with expressing myself if it wasn’t my real name. Maybe I feel a bit vulnerable just using my own name. I feel like I can explore more things—more parts of myself—when I’m kind of using another name.

DCist: Well, your most recent work certainly seems more raw than the prior albums. What went into writing these songs?

SN: The songs really write themselves with me. Always. I think maybe the difference with this one and the other ones is that it was kind of a singular vision of what the theme was of the record. It was all about one thing maybe and it did feel a lot more direct than before. I was hoping some songs would come that were about some other stuff but they didn’t. It was all about this one thing. That wasn’t something I could control, really. I just allow what comes out to be the song and that’s all that was coming out.

DCist: And that’s how it’s always been?

SN: Yes. I kind of just give myself an arena to empty out my subconscious and that’s what the songwriting process is for me.

DCist: How would you describe the singular vision that came out if you were to put it into words?

SN: Break-ups, pretty much.

DCist: Strangely enough, that even comes out in your choice in covers. How long have you been covering “No Scrubs”?

SN: A few years, I think. I would say about five years, maybe. This was the right time, I think, to put it on record. It really fit in with the rest of the record.

DCist: What drew you to that song?

SN: I was a big fan of the original when it came out. I just loved the chord progression and the whole package—the chords, the melody of it—and I really loved the kind of badass lyrical content. It was really no-nonsense and I was just attracted to that.

DCist: Knowing now what the vision was you had for this album, something that struck me about the cover art is that the kiss seems aggressive and the man’s eyes were open. Were either of those facets intentional?

SN: Well, the photograph wasn’t done for the album. It was a real photograph that was taken awhile ago. It just seemed like a really good photo metaphorically for the album. I was kind of immersed in something with someone else and their eyes were open. I was fully in it and they weren’t.

DCist: The music video for “Gun” seemed like an odd juxtaposition of Snow White at an amusement park given the nature of that song. How did you come up with that?

SN: I really wanted a stark juxtaposition between the darkness of the song and the visuals. I didn’t want the visual to be dark, really. I just had a vision that I should be Snow White. So, I got my friend to film me in Portland and it was actually completely random that there was a fairground there. I thought we were just going to go downtown and be crossing streets and going in shops and he’d film me and film the reaction of people around seeing Snow White just hanging out. The fact that there was an amusement park on that particular day was completely by accident but it was an amazing accident. It kind of worked to our benefit.

DCist: I kept waiting to see if there was a dark turn at the end and as dark as it got was the ice cream cone on the ground.

SN: I think it’s still dark. I think it’s even weirder because it’s not trying to portray the song at all so I think there’s a lot of tension which is what I was looking for.

DCist: The D.C. show will be the first of your tour with Dope Body. Do you pick the folks you tour with?

SN: It’s always my decision I guess. But I don’t have a permanent drummer right now, so I have to look for different drummers for each tour. This one in the U.S. is actually going to be Dave from Dope Body. He’s doing the whole tour. There’s also going to be a second guitarist. This is the first time I’m taking a second guitarist. He just did the European tour with me as well.

Scout Niblett plays tonight at Comet Ping Pong with Dope Body and Roomrunner. Tickets are $12. Show starts and 9:00 p.m.