Eliza

Ms Eliza is a wonder to behold with her toy piano. Her song "Black Rose" from the EP "Gild The Lily" has not left my head since I saw her last. She performed with a string quartet behind her this past Saturday 30 January. I went to this thing early but with an urgent pace because I thought I was late. I did very little research on ER, at least before the show.... just enough to like her. She is a trained pianist. I can totally get when a performer just sort of picks up some gimmicky instrument and learns it on the go.....Eliza Rickman is not that person. She is university trained. It's a different thing when she touches a toy piano. You feel horse drawn by nostalgia. In Ms Eliza's hands that toy piano can haunt like one of them old fashion dolls winking at you at 3 am. Forgive if that sounds embellished. I got it. You wanna know how dark she just naturally is? She covered Nick Cave. Natural darkness that is also innocent. I don't put them two words together like that just because they sound cute. Nostalgia is what the innocence leaves behind. And then there's that creepy doll thing. She has a personal history with the toy piano. Since childhood I believe. Then in university she majors in Ragtime piano, and then arranging. And then there is her voice. She comes straight from an otherworldly golden age.

This was my first time at the EP Theater in Pilsen. We were actually early. I took the time to soak up the place. It looks very nice but there is only one toilet for everyone, and there was a lot of people. I was so glad I didn't need to go....any way. I did not know how much I would like Ms Eliza coming into this performance. I had no history to urge me to see her. Just a need not to be late to something. You go and you find out how much of this artist is actually already resonant in you. And so "Black Rose" has played in my head with ease as though it has always been there. The toy piano sounded like she got it from a haunted house. Damn thing was indeed enchanted. EP puts her singular weight on the toy piano . She briefly said what inspired "Black Rose", I forgot exactly what that was, but it made me listen to the song more. The toy piano really reaches into you and captures some very specific feelings if not memories. The words she says you want to make your own. Yeah, I'm a fan.