Wendy Eisenberg established their reputation as a chops-forward guitarist who’s equally at home in totally spontaneous and rigorously composed settings, but it’s been evident for a while that there’s more to their music than masterful shredding; They’ve also made strong statements as a singer and banjo player. This year, Eisenberg has released two recordings that fuse improvisation and songwriting without compromising either method.
The first, Accept When (Astral Spirits), is a collaboration with saxophonist Caroline Davis that distilled the duo’s disparate inspirations into a sequence of gravity-defying instrumentals and obliquely observational songs. Viewfinder, a double LP which was released this fall on American Dreams (an independent label founded here by former Chicagoan Jordan Reyes), is as expansive as its predecessor was pithy. Opening track “Lasik” relates the experience of recovering from the titular procedure, and Eisenberg sings it with a combination of languidness and agility that reminds me of Robert Wyatt. Subsequent songs conduct an unsparing, vividly articulated exploration of how life and self-perception change when one’s defenses are stripped away. But much of the album is given over to gracefully winding instrumentals, whose probing solos and dynamic changes parallel the album’s themes of transformation and self-examination without forcing any metaphors.
While Eisenberg has appeared repeatedly in Chicago as a sideperson, soloist, and collaborator, this concert is their Chicago debut as a bandleader. Their ensemble includes trombonist Zekkereya El-magharbel (who plays on Viewfinder), drummer Ryan Sawyer, and multi-instrumentalist Mari Maurice (aka More Eaze).
Wendy Eisenberg Big Bend open. Fri 11/15, 8:30 PM, Constellation, 3111 N. Western, $15, 18+