by David Wilikofsky
If you’ve followed Wendy Eisenberg’s projects through the last few years, you’ll know that they can seemingly do anything and everything. They played as part of avant-rock trio Birthing Hips, a group that put together one of the best rock albums in recent memory. They’ve recorded albums full of brilliant solo guitar improvisations. Earlier this year they surprise dropped a sparkling set of offbeat bedroom pop for Bandcamp Day. But Eisenberg’s latest album, Auto, feels like their strongest statement to date. It takes ideas from all these previous projects and combines them into shapeshifting, strikingly original music.
The music here defies easy categorization; look no further than the album’s first three tracks to get a sense of the variety on display. Opener “I Don’t Want To” ebbs and flows, building from stillness to frantic energy and back again. Track two, “Centerville”, feels like stripped down Birthing Hips songs, sharing some of the same nervy energy and hairpin turns that were hallmarks of the band’s sound. Third track “No Such Luck” is a more straightforward, jazz inflected ballad. This restless sonic experimentation is a constant throughout the album, but despite the diversity of sounds the album never feels overstuffed. Eisenberg’s vocal and guitar work provides a through line that makes everything work together.
Eisenberg’s writing is no less dazzling; new words and phrases jumped out at me on each listen, but what struck me the most was the interplay between words and music. “Far Be It” is a meditation of the futility of romantic relationships; Eisenberg sings “Falling in love with someone is so inadvisable / Try to learn and let what’s over feel over / Trying again although it seems like it’s destined for failure“. The songs lilting instrumentals echo the up and downs of the lyrics. “Urge”, which finds Eisenberg wishing to be despised by an unnamed party, is matched with a slow burning jazz ballad instrumental that lends the song both intimacy and pathos. Each song displays this same sense of craft, perfectly melding the lyrical and musical elements together.
I could easily go on and on; this is an album that’s all killer and no filler. The many threads of Eisenberg’s musical interests came together and created something I’ve never heard before. It’s honestly an album better heard than described. Given Eisenberg’s penchant for changing things up, I have no idea what their next record will sound like. But if it’s anything like Auto, it’ll be brilliant.