Eliana Glass – E | Album Review
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Shelter Press
A sea of mahogany scrolls meets my widening eyes as richly shimmering instruments catch the hot sun that pours through the windows like water.
It was the summer before my senior year of high school, and I was at a music camp smack dab in the middle of the sweltering southern California desert. Shy, awkward, and frumpy, I was among more peers than I had ever been before. As you can imagine, I felt like a fish out of water. I was there to attend the piano program, but campers were also given the chance to explore other instruments during the camp. I eagerly signed up for the strings class, having never had the opportunity to try any instruments besides the piano.
The moment I entered the strings classroom is one I will remember forever. Everything changed for me that day as I pulled one of the massive upright basses into my arms, timidly plucking at the thick, ropey strings and startling as the vibration rattled through my ribcage. I was in love.
Fast forward a year to 2012: it was my freshman year of college, and I had the opportunity to take four semesters of a group strings class as part of my piano major. Obviously, the piano, being my primary point of study, was my whole world, however, I was still deeply excited to reunite with the instrument that had intrigued me for the past year. I threw myself into every class period with vigor and enthusiasm. I even continued with private lessons during my senior year, playing whatever bass I could find lying around the music building in the few moments of free time I had during the week. Learning to play the upright bass developed in me a love and appreciation for genres and pieces of music that I believe I would have found far less accessible prior. I developed an ear for jazz, ever in awe of those bassists whose fingers could flit over the unforgiving strings like sparrows. I loved the mumbling runs and satisfying slap of pizzicato. I found joy in the husky whisper of the heavy bow as my little fingers scuttled across the fingerboard. Combined with my love for and dedication to the piano, I had huge new worlds and perspectives offered to me through the bass.
It is with this love for the upright bass and the piano that I approached Eliana Glass’s debut album, E. This modern jazz masterpiece is a stunning example of the delicate balance that can be struck between diametrically opposed instruments. Each track is unhurried, savoring the meandering harmonies and giving them permission to meld into a colorful blur of sound. Glass’s rich and elegant vocals have a resonant and woody quality, floating above the gentle rhythm of each song’s slightly varied instrumentation.
I have listened through this album countless times, and it still presents me with something new each time - a new shadow, a new sunbeam, a new feeling. While I am comfortable with the ebb and flow of jazz harmony, having done more than my fair share of listening over the years, Eliana Glass has mastered her own unique brand of harmonic progression. It is at once listenable and fresh, full of subtle surprises and satisfying progressions that keep me coming back to listen once again.
Glass’s musical career is impressive, and well explains her prowess as a musician and composer. From first learning the piano by ear as a child to studying jazz voice at The New School, followed by years of performance and songwriting experience, Eliana’s abilities have continued to evolve with time. Her composing draws on her thorough knowledge of jazz standards and love for Brazilian music, improvisation, and vintage equipment. While most of her writing features piano, upright bass, and drums, some pieces are stripped down to just Glass and a piano, and others feature warm and weird synths.
My favorite track on E is “Flood.” It feels almost improvisatory in nature, something that would have been written alone one evening, hummed and tenderly pieced together by candlelight. The chord progression is heart-wrenching: simple arpeggios modulate between the major, its relative minor, and the secondary dominant, leading the ear on a sonically unstable journey that is nonetheless wonderfully satisfying. The tragic lyrics are intoned in Glass’s husky low register at first, sitting beautifully in her chest voice. As the song progresses, she switches to her head voice, and I am reminded of a theremin or bowed saw: Eliana sounds otherworldly and ethereal, hovering above the piano like a phantom. Another highlight is the opening track, “All My Life,” which feels deliciously like a song from a bygone era. The rich seventh chords, beautiful jazz progressions, and thrumming bass pizzicato create a romantic and brooding setting for Glass’s stunning vocals. “I’ve waited for you all my life - all my life, I’ve waited for you,” she croons. “Give me back my life, those stars are mine, this life is mine / Stars in the sky, this life is mine.” Somehow, “All My Life” does sound like stars: evoking a deep velvet evening sky, held against the heavens by glittering stars.
A particularly standout work on this album is “Human Dust,” which is based on a poem by Agnes Denes. I have actually had the opportunity to see this work in person, as it was acquired by the San Francisco MoMA as part of their permanent collection in 2013 on a rotating display schedule. The piece consists of the poem, which hangs on the wall, and a small glass container of “calcareous human remains.” (So yes, bits and pieces of bones.) The poem tells the story of the life of a decidedly average man, chronicling how long he lived, how many people loved him, how many pounds of bread he ate, and so on. It is an eerie, deeply thoughtful work, and Glass pays Denes’ art piece the homage it deserves with her rendition. One can see the parallels between these two visionary artists: both Denes and Glass are pushing the boundaries of their respective crafts. While one works in physical media and the latter in sonic forms, both are confronting what it means to be a contemporary artist. There is no better person to tackle the challenge that Denes’ poem presents than Eliana Glass.
The modern listener would be remiss to pass over the masterpiece that is E. Full of stunning and fresh original pieces alongside well-crafted covers, Eliana Glass’s abilities are on full display. Each piece spins in orbit around the artist like a glowing moon, reflecting the cohesive beauty that this artist is so skilled in creating. And I, for one, will watch the moons, stars, and planets of E’s delicate solar system whirl above me over and over again.
Britta Joseph is a musician and artist who, when she isn’t listening to records or deep-diving emo archives on the internet, enjoys writing poetry, reading existential literature, and a good iced matcha. You can find her on Instagram @brittajoes.
