During a particularly difficult time in her life, Eliza Niemi subletted an apartment down the street from Progress Bakery. She only provides a little bit of information about the business that inspired the title of her sophomore album: its sign had partially fallen down (making it read “‘gress bakery”), they made an excellent espresso, and she’d “chew” on its name all day after picking up her morning coffee. She isn’t actually saying that much about it, but the sum of these small details is much larger than its individual parts; their specificity creates a foundation you can build atop until you can almost smell the aroma of freshly baked croissants wafting down the street. Fittingly, the way Niemi describes the album’s namesake mirrors her gift as a songwriter: her sharp sense of observation is her special sauce.
“Kenny hates names in songs, thinks it makes them not universal / and they might be onto something” Niemi sings on opener “Do U Fm”, yet the specificity of Niemi’s writing is what makes these songs consistently sparkle. Sometimes this is in the form of a stray name or a place, but just as often its in a turn of phrase or pop culture reference. The farting sound her chair makes when she sits down reminds her of an old flame; people talking in the back though her set make her feel a bit more relaxed on stage. Even the description of a shirt (“Tampax-pearl-blue”) or the way she illustrates time dragging (“like the 5th band at a 5 band show”) has a clear viewpoint. Ultimately, this is what has kept me returning to Progress Bakery again and again over the past few months; it’s melodies are pleasant and catchy, but Niemi’s writing is the main attraction. It’s a mess of tones and emotions: loose, warm, strange, melancholic, silly, joyous. Most of all it’s full of life, bursting at the seams with both its minutiae and big questions. Thank god she didn’t take Kenny’s advice.