Despite first impressions, Zero has hidden depths
Upon hearing Elizabeth and The Catapult for the first time, it’s hard not to feel like the sound has been done before. Who does the group sound like? Sara Bareilles? Ingrid Michaelson? Florence Welch?
But the key to the band’s jazzy-pop tunes is to keep listening — it gets better.
More than zero · In its sophomore album, Elizabeth and the Catapult starts off slow but comes into its own with its fourth track. - Photos courtesy of Daffodil Publicity
The Other Side of Zero is the Brooklyn-based trio’s noble follow-up to its 2009 debut album Taller Children. The 11-track album, which will be released Oct. 26, takes the listener on a journey fraught with many honest emotions.
With heart-wrenching piano ballads and energetic whistles, eerie harmonies and catchy guitar riffs, the band produces a record that is raw, scrappy and original.
The content of these songs ranges from love and loss to broken dreams to growing older.
The record opens with “Time (We All Fall Down),” in which Elizabeth Ziman shows glimpses of vocal prowess, albeit with reservations. The song is catchy — no doubt about that — and as the first track on the band’s sophomore album, it makes lofty promises for creative loops, poppy fun and something relatively new.
The record doesn’t reach its peak until the fourth track, “Thank You For Nothing.” This song is simplistic and full of raw, emotional paradoxes, shedding all of the cool gimmicks and tricks in favor of stripping it down to its core: a soft piano ballad, a basic guitar riff, the occasional cello chord chiming in and a hauntingly truthful voice from Ziman.
The song explores the painful paradoxes of an honest love. Ziman croons, Thank you for everything, thank you for nothing / For every door opening, there’s another one slowly closing / Thank you for loving me, thank you for leaving.
It may be the grains of reality sprinkled among the painful paradoxes or Ziman’s sad, honest voice. Either way, you can’t help being fully disarmed by this tune.
Ziman’s voice is best when raw. It delivers the most powerful impact when it isn’t overshadowed by upbeat jangles and experimental clashes. Treasures lie in simplicity, and this song proves it. The song does what Ziman had hoped to do but failed at the start — make a musical declaration of the band’s originality to the new listeners and its newfound emotional maturity to the old followers.
The next track, “Go Away My Lover,” is a quick turnaround from the simple, sentimental experience of “Thank You For Nothing.” The song is a lot more assertive and experimental, utilizing all sorts of sounds from the twangy drumbeats to scratchy muted strums to sharp claps and whistles.
The duet is a bitter exchange between a couple whose best days are behind them. More than sentimental or heart-wrenching, this song is borderline comedic, as the only thing that the couple seems to agree on is the refrain, Go away my lover, darling won’t you go / Leave me to my tower, leave me all alone.
Another song that deserves a notable mention is the title track, “The Other Side of Zero.” Slow and sentimental, the tune is reminiscent of the emotional rapture that is “Thank You For Nothing.” However, the band adds more elements in this track with comprehensive vocal harmonies crooning, Whatever shall be, shall be.
This track is bound to strike a chord in your heart.
Elizabeth and The Catapult showcases a variety of musical prowess in its sophomore album, but the band will only wrench itself away from the flock only by sticking to the basics.