Eliza Rickman
Country of origin:
U.S.
Type of music generally:
Beautiful & fierce alternative pop
Status:
Most recent release, Footnotes For the Spring (2015)
See also:
Eliza Rickman's site
Comparisons:
Marissa Nadler
Covers/own material:
Own, occasional covers
General comments:
She's quirky and twisted, and sings lovely songs whilst playing a toy piano. Some of her work is a cappella, with looping.
She's just at the beginning of her career, with a 6-song CD and some videos. I hope we'll hear a lot more from her. (brni @ kappamaki . com) Who knew someone could pull off an album where the dominant musical instrument is toy piano? Well, maybe that's because the dominant instrument is really Eliza Rickman's gorgeous voice. Add to that strong songwriting, and her sound is a winner. She's incredibly talented and while the idea of using a toy piano sounds like a it must be a gimmick, once you hear how percussively she uses it, you'll understand how it is so much more than that in her music. (Neile)
Comments about live performance:
Eliza has a lovely soprano with pretty vibrato and it suits her sweet goth-and-Victoriana aesthetic.
She writes within the limits of her skills with the instruments—her piano songs in particular have conventional melodies, the most basic time signatures and structures. Most of the songs don't have a dynamic structure with any peaks or diversions; they're slow/medium paced verse-chorus-v-c-v-c... in a measured way that can lull you but doesn't demand attention.
The toy piano further limits her so those songs (e.g. "Cinnamon Bone," "Black Rose") are very plink plonk, but that instrument is different enough that in small doses these songs feel more distinct.
Best perhaps were the unaccompanied numbers where Eliza sampled her hand claps, breathes and weird vocalizations for a backing track.
She also played a cute tune about Napoleon with a bird whistle and sing-a-ma-jig toy. This song skipped and danced more than the other keyboard numbers. Eliza said that'll be the Kickstarter extra track because it doesn't fit with the sadder songs on the upcoming album. The final song she played had a lovely soaring melody line over a wheezing accordion dirge. Eliza said that she'd had one accordion lesson and had learnt "Mary Had a Little Lamb." In a way not knowing how to play an instrument resulted in better music than half-knowing. (k_hester_k@yahoo.co.nz, 5/11)
Recommended first album:
O, You Sinners
Recordings:
- Gild The Lily EP (2009)
- O, You Sinners (2012)
- Footnotes For the Spring (2015)
Gild The Lily EP
Release info:
2009
Availability:
See Eliza Rickman's site
Ecto priority:
Highly recommended
Group members:
Eliza Rickman—vocals, toy piano, toy glock, viola arrangement
Guest artists:
Quinn Karges—viola (2)
Robert C. E. DeLong—stomping, bucket-shaking (4)
Produced by:
Eliza Rickman and Robert C. E. DeLong
Comments:
This is a startling strong debut. It's only six tracks, but two of them are *brilliant* ("Cinnamon Bone" and "Black Rose") and the rest merely strong. I'm not stuck on her cover of "Moon River" but that may be the song rather than her performance of it. In any case, I highly, highly recommend tracking this down. (Neile)
O, You Sinners
Release info:
2012
Availability:
See Eliza Rickman's site
Ecto priority:
Highly recommended
Group members:
Eliza Rickman—vocals, piano, toy piano, accordion, wine glasses, desk bells
Guest artists:
Robert DeLong—drums, percussion, wine glasses, prepared piano
Alex Russell—violin
Caleb Russell—violin
Rosalyn Torto—viola
Karen Hull—cello
Tom V. Ray—upright bass
Kevin O'Donnell—drums (6)
Quinn Karges—viola (7)
Mark Greenberg—reed organ & wineglasses (10)
Produced by:
Mark Greenberg and Eliza Rickman
Comments:
O, You Sinners more than fulfills the promise of the Gild The Lily EP. Each song is so wonderfully woven that each demands attention and it's hard to pick out favourites. Certainly there doesn't seem to be a single weak spot. (Neile)One of the best albums of the year. (gordoja@optonline.net, jjhanson@att.net, stjarnell@yahoo.com)
Footnotes For the Spring
Release info:
2015
Availability:
See Eliza Rickman's site
Ecto priority:
Recommended
Group members:
Eliza Rickman—vocals, piano, autoharp, ukelele, percussion
Guest artists:
Jason Webley—accordion, percussion, backing vocals, wineglasses, programmable music box
Alex Guy—violin, viola
Maria Scherer Wilson—cello
Jherek Bischoff—bass; guitar (7)
Paul Kikuchi—drums, percussion
Fred Hawkinson—trombone
Samantha Boshnack—trumpet
Beth Fleenor—clarinet
Janet Putnam—oboe
Shenandoah Davis, Sean Nelson (Harvey Danger)—additional backing vocals
Produced by:
Jason Webley
Comments:
Eliza's second album doesn't disappoint. Her voice is so pure and the songs here range from fun and quirky to downright beautiful. My only complaint—she Includes her songs she contributed to Margaret [editor's note: Jason Webley's project]—was hoping for more original material, but her covers album is due out soon. This is one of my favorites of 2015. (jjhanson@att.net)While there are a couple of tracks here that aren't to my personal taste, I love most of this album. (Neile)
One of the great albums of 2015. (raschee@gmail.com)
Thanks to JoAnn Whetsell for work on this entry.
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