Wendy Eisenberg is an extraordinary guitarist dedicated to the completely unconstrained exploration of music, language and time. Her work has taken her from conservatory to DIY space to concert hall, from performing improvised music and punk-metal to writing the quietest of songs. On Its Shape is Your Touch, Eisenberg turns her gaze to the guitar in its most absolute, essential form. Having traversed musical genres as she has, the intricate improvisations she weaves on this record have as much to do with the vast history and musical conventions that she chooses to leave out as the sounds she chooses to play. In the process Eisenberg invents a vibrant, fiercely unique language all her own. The artist in her own words: The title Its Shape is Your Touch, from the final line the Richard Brautigan poem 'Here is something beautiful,' is one-half of the thesis of this record. The other, the absent antithesis, comes from the William Gaddis novel The Recognitions: 'you can change a line without touching it.' The shape of the guitar is the context for the sounds it makes; your touch activates this machine, alters, creates and transforms its possibilities. The shape is created and outlined by the touch, but it contains absence, undefined space. In my music, the lines change with and without physical touch: my touch creates the sound, but those sounds expand, contract, rotate, and dance as I re-establish and constantly evolve the contexts and boundaries of this world. This record has to do with absence, the spaces and movements implied by the lines of a sketch and the other worlds that choice of representation chooses to ignore. I want to let linearity be not a crutch but a device for intelligent travel through musical space. I like to think of these recordings as a gentle exorcism. Recorded in a year of significant, deep loss, it is hard for me not to hear this record as a kind of metamorphosis, a blood-letting, a culling and casting of musical and personal values. This music is reflection on loss and implication: a bluessless blues.
supported by 24 fans who also own “Its Shape Is Your Touch”
Folk guitar might never get better, or more dissonant, than is achieved by Wendy on this album. Forged in an oven operated under shaky circumstances, this object popped out in the form of a silver pearl. deadite_237
supported by 17 fans who also own “Its Shape Is Your Touch”
Impossible to choose a favourite song, tho this one resonates with the alien in me exploring earth/deciding what to bring back. This album is important beyond any words of mine. Your life is missing if you haven’t. Laura Fisher
supported by 14 fans who also own “Its Shape Is Your Touch”
Mary Halvorson is a genius composer and guitarist who has developed her own musical language, and with Code Girl she has incorporated poetry into that language. Incredible compositions and lyricism (each track is a different kind of poem). Halvorson's playing is as great as usual, and all the other members of the band sound great. Robert Wyatt's singing in particular works extremely well in the tracks he's featured. Highly, highly recommend. rat
Ian Russell took isolation as a chance to get closer with his guitar, resulting in this lovely set of meditative acoustic instrumentals. Bandcamp New & Notable Dec 1, 2020
Introspective, homespun folk tunes from John Donne that feel informed by the sugary bleakness of '80s and '90s indie pop. Bandcamp New & Notable Aug 1, 2023
Oakland singer-songwriter honors her Haitian heritage with five R&B spirituals overflowing with radiance, fueled by her soft, angelic voice. Bandcamp New & Notable Jun 22, 2022
supported by 14 fans who also own “Its Shape Is Your Touch”
I can't get through any new Bill Orcutt record without getting excited, but here he has gone one step further. Can we talk about invoking the spirit of counterpoint now? jiristepan