"through naive and trusting eyes"
Elizabeth Goodfellow is an accomplished L.A. based drummer (Iron & Wine, Madison Cunningham, boygenius, Per Gessle) but her drumming takes a back seat on her latest release called Milwaukee. On it, her favorite instrument, the marimba cuts the path for her words and melodies. From the onset, the woody tactile tones like lush water drops falling give way to Goodfellow's brushes and divergent percussive moves, Kaveh Rastegar's upright bass and pedal steel guitar lines by Ryan Hommel. Goodfellow's vocal aesthetic feels pristine. Her tones and beautiful sustains tell stories, remembrances. It feels intimate at times and distant at other times as she moves from watchful wide eyed monitor to soothsayer. I hesitate to call what is happening here as folk although it could be under that big umbrella but it feels like something between folk with heavy jazz leanings and musical theater in the best possible way. When all elements combine, marimba, pedal steel, bass, drums, the evocative violin lines from Dina Macabee and layers of Goodfellow's harmonies, the organic orchestration feels like a native journey, like something tied to the earth, something legendary really and so beautiful.
Lest you think that something this magical is a wondrous debut, it is not. Elizabeth Goodfellow, besides her prolific work as a drummer, has released other works as artist / singer-songwriter that you can check out like Silly Sun from 2018 and Sea Ranch from 2019. I am feeling like I am bathed in dreams.
From Elizabeth:
"Lyrically, “Milwaukee” deals with the past, present and the future: looking back on a more innocent way of perceiving life, the fall from grace that creates a permanent rift between you and that ability to see life purely through naive and trusting eyes, and finally the lens turns toward the future and the realization that few things will ever turn out the way we hope they will."
“Milwaukee” is out 2/21/2020 on Oburabi Records.
- Robb Donker Curtius
THE FACTS AS WE KNOW THEM - PRESS NOTES:
Drummer and percussionist Elizabeth Goodfellow’s love of the marimba began in college where she studied the works of Steve Reich, performing “Nagoya Marimbas” for her junior recital. As a percussionist in the Air Force Band of the West Coast she had access to one of the expensive instruments, but after she left the armed services she also lost touch with the marimba until years later when she found a vintage 1920's Deagan instrument on Craigslist shortly after moving to Los Angeles to focus on songwriting. As Elizabeth’s drumming career brought her more experience working with veteran songwriters and new talent alike (Iron & Wine, Madison Cunningham, boygenius) she had the idea of incorporating the marimba in a singer-songwriter setting. After a writing trip to Tucson, AZ in November of 2019, Elizabeth came back to Los Angeles with new songs to record on the marimba, and the first to be released is “Milwaukee”. Accompanied by Kaveh Rastegar on the upright bass, Ryan Hommel on pedal steel guitar, and Dina Macabee on the violin, “Milwaukee” sets the tone for Elizabeth’s evolving songwriting aesthetic: gentle vocals, lush, jazzy drums, with the marimba taking on the role that would traditionally belong to a guitar or a piano.
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