WENDY EISENBERG - Auto LP

Highly recommended.

“Wendy Eisenberg is a musician that makes indie pop.” Yes, the lead single from Auto, “Futures,” featured the kind of diary introspection that would fit on Double Double Whammy, but it was caught at the intersection of Gastr del Sol type riff-fuckery and production quips. Their reputation as a fixture within overarching New England DIY from the punk-adjacent Birthing Hips to hip compositions for the guitar and banjo have enshrined them with a singular maverick quality that has been sorely missing in music this year. Auto makes good on all those pieces, coalescing them into a dense sonic universe that you could fill a book about its pieces (and Wendy did!)

Now that is not to say that Auto is a solo endeavor. It features huge contributions from upwards of three Nicks: one that plays bass, another that offers perfect percussion, and perhaps the most important, Zanca, whose production lends the album its most notable sonic touchstone, an airy, hushed sound that harkens to late-era Mark Hollis (just listen to the intro of “The Moon” for a good sense). This is a communal affair and every bit works to spotlight Eisenberg and their impeccable compositions.

On “Futures,” the knotty guitar riffs suggest prime Deerhoof, while their conversational vocal delivery brings to mind the intimacy of Frankie Cosmos. Two-thirds of the way through, a crowd roars, the bustling drums ramp up their intensity, and Eisenberg starts thrashing away. “Another basement show,” they half-shrug, half-whoop, drenched in echoey effects; cheers ensue again. “I love hearing where someone is,” Eisenberg told The Wire, and “Futures” sounds both like live musicians playing in a room and like some oddball fictional setting. But it’s all coolly enigmatic, and it breezes past in two and a half minutes, leaving plenty of time afterward to puzzle over the ominous closing lines: “I didn’t notice that/I didn’t notice that/My enemies are finally real.”