Born in Australia, raised in Seattle, and currently based in New York, singer/songwriter/pianist Eliana Glass learned to sing and play piano by ear as a child. Hiding underneath her parents’ piano, she felt moved and inspired. “I felt protected under the wooden beams,” she explained in the press materials for her debut album, E. “I remember looking up at the legs, wires, and foot pedals and seeing the instrument in a new way—everything suddenly everted. I like to think aboutEas recalling this memory in sound.”
The sound on E is at once lush, unvarnished, warm, protective, and direct. One can hear the echoes of artists like Annette Peacock, Carla Bley, and German folk singer Sibylle Baier in the music, and also the multifaceted emotion of Joni Mitchell, not just in the expressionism of the vocals but also in the way Glass so effortlessly moves between jazz and folk motifs. Writing most of the songs either by herself or with her brother Costa (who plays various instruments), Glass revels in what she calls “the condensation of everyday life”, downplaying that the album sounds more like a future classic with every listen.
“All my life / I’ve waited for you,” Glass sings on the opening track, “All My Life”, accompanied by her piano and Mike Rinne’s bass. The song drifts, unmoored, as Glass feels her way around the melodies, and the piano and bass weave in and out. It’s relaxed and only loosely constructed, which adds to the somewhat improvisatory nature of the song. “Shrine” continues along the same lines, with the addition of Mike Gebhart’s hushed drumming and Glass singing alongside herself, not really harmonizing but self-duetting.
Glass gets direct and autobiographical with the quasi-title track, “Good Friends Call Me E”, as she rummages through her past and reflects on the passage of time (“Good friends call me E / Like my dad does / I get older every year / but the land slides”) and also observes the present (“Men come and go / So, I’ve had loss / The boy from my street grew up a bad man / And they don’t call me E anymore”). Glass’ unique and intoxicating style prevents any kind of cliched sentimentality from creeping in.
While most of the songs were either written by Glass or co-written with Costa, there are a couple of noteworthy covers that show off Glass’ range as well as her unique influences. “Dreams”, composed by avant-garde jazz vocalist and musician Annette Peacock, is an ethereal delight bolstered by field recordings and light, dreamy production touches that give the track an otherworldly quality, while still keeping Glass’ overall style intact. Carla Bley’s classic “Sing Me Softly of the Blues” is given a warm, seductive reimagining, with Glass’ sumptuous piano paired with lyrics adapted by Karin Krog.
There’s a playfulness in songs like “Da”, a wistful track with wordless vocalizing from Glass and bolstered by acoustic guitar and David Vandervelde’s subtle lap steel. The record’s final track is a reprise of “Good Friends Call Me E”, which is hazier and more experimental in nature, sounding almost like a dream version of the original song. Eliana Glass’ music is gentle and warm, but also filled with mystery and unanswered questions. E is compelling, dreamlike, and best of all: never boring.
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