Today, Wendy Eisenberg announced signing to Joyful Noise Recordings. The prolific New York City-based songwriter and guitarist’s work spans a vast range of genres–from jazz to noise to avant-rock–and their new partnership with Joyful Noise celebrates this eclecticism, covering both their solo work and a variety of other projects. Notably, this includes Editrix, Eisenberg’s acclaimed noisy indie rock trio with Steve Cameron and Josh Daniel. To mark the signing and herald a new chapter of artistic output, Eisenberg has released new single “I Don’t Miss You,” available digitally and as a lathe-cut 7" record–limited to just 150 copies–each handcrafted at the Joyful Noise headquarters.
On the song, Wendy reflects: “This song was written during a period of my life when I was casually dating, which is a style of romance that does not come naturally to me (my tendency is to take things way too seriously for way too long). The people entering and exiting my life were fascinating and complete worlds unto themselves, and the brevity of our connections felt like the world was holding a mirror to me and breathing on it- alternately reflective and opaque. Of course I miss them. I miss everyone I’ve ever met!”
The announcement follows a run of impressive releases that showcase their dynamic output, including Viewfinder, a double-album jazz and improv song cycle, was universally acclaimed and was listed as one of Pitchfork’s best albums of 2024. Earlier that year, Eisenberg also toured and released a live record as part of the Bill Orcutt Guitar Quartet, which notably led to a performance on NPR Music's Tiny Desk. Their collaborative spirit continued with a duo album with saxophonist Caroline Davis and a release from Squanderers, their trio with Kramer and David Grubbs. Most recently, just last week, Eisenberg released their debut album with More Eaze under their alias whait, which also marked the final release from the esteemed durational label Longform Editions.
Over the last five years or so Wendy Eisenberg has been keeping listeners guessing. Nominally an improvising guitarist, they don’t recognize any musical limitations, perpetually finding ways to apply a deeply exploratory practice to a wide variety of contexts. Eisenberg plays solo guitar as well as banjo in both acoustic and electric settings, warped post-punk songs in the trio Editrix, earworm art pop tunes, febrile post-Prime Time free jazz in Strictly Missionary, and punk-prog in a trio with Trevor Dunn and Ches Smith. As Eisenberg told fellow guitarist Nick Millevoi in an interview for Premier Guitar in 2021, “I need to be in a punk band at the same time as I need to be playing free improv at the same time as I need to be playing songs. All at the same time—otherwise none of the practices will work for me.” Their musical range isn’t a glib manifestation of eclecticism, but a genuine artistic essence.
Eisenberg has collaborated with a disparate array of musicians from all points along the creative music spectrum, including Shane Parish, Francisco Mela, Stephen Gauci, Carlos Truly, Ron Shalom, Devin Gray, Jessica Pavone, Carla Kihlstedt, John Zorn, Miles Okazaki, Matt Mitchell, and Caroline Davis. Still, while thriving in such endeavors, Eisenberg’s solo practice is no less sprawling. On the 2021 album Bloodletting, to take but one example, they performed an experimental text score which was memorized. Rather than simply performing according to a set of written instructions, Eisenberg drew upon their improvisational practice to see how memory distorted or personalized the process of interpreting a score, performing the same four movements of the text score on electric guitar as well as banjo, spreading the results over separate CDs. On first blush the sounds on the album Bent Ring could seem like another artist altogether. The recording opens with an overdubbed a cappella choir giving a tender reading to the hymn “Abide With Me,” famously recorded by Thelonious Monk, followed by the diaristic self-reflection of “When I am an Artist,” where Eisenberg’s love for sweet pop melodies blends with spiky, unpredictable arpeggios played on banjo.
Eisenberg has an exciting lineup of performances on the horizon, starting with a residency at The Stone—New York City’s renowned avant-garde venue curated by John Zorn and The New School. Their schedule also features a mix of solo and ensemble performances, along with appearances with projects Editrix, Squanderers, and Water Damage. Rounding out this dynamic itinerary, Eisenberg will also take the stage at the esteemed Big Ears and Rewire festivals.
Check out "I Don’t Miss You" above and stay tuned for more from Wendy Eisenberg coming soon.
INTERVIEW WITH DENNIS COOPER by Alexander Laurence Serial murders have become more prevalent in American Society. Are you ver...
EMAIL me at AlexLaurence @ AOL (dot) com "If the doors of perception were cleansed every thing would appear to man as it is, inf...
No comments:
Post a Comment