Back when Level 42 and The Police were enjoying some pop success, I used to marvel at how their lead singers could sail through their vocal duties while laying down some gnarly bass lines that often ran in opposition to their lyric lines. Being able to both sing and play like a boss at the same time is an under-appreciated talent, in my humble opinion.
I’m sure there are plenty examples of these that apply to guitarists, too, and one particularly vivid example just popped up. Wendy Eisenberg has appeared in this space before as a guitarist, and a very good one at that, but she also likes to write lyrics and she likes to sing them. And you know what? She’s legit in that department, too. With a willowy voice of uncommon clarity, Eisenberg’s frictionless delivery makes every phrase hang in the air.
“Centreville,” depicted in the video above, is where both sides of Eisenberg’s main strengths come together beautifully. Her voice flows out with a carefree ease while her fingers play a rapid, densely-packed ostinato, with some start-stop action thrown in. That’s some major disjunction right there.
A hat tip also goes to directors Hannah Swayze & Daniel Contaldo, they made a visually compelling imagery that portrays this impossible split-mind feat and just the whole off-kilter nature of this art-pop tune.
“Centreville” is the second single coming ahead of Wendy Eisenberg’s next album Auto, which will drop on October 16, 2020 from Ba Da Bing Records. Get Auto from Bandcamp.
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