Thanks to some advice from a fellow pianist, Melissa Weikart has been able to chisel away and create the space that is right for her. While studying at the New England Conservatory in Boston, Weikart met the avant-garde pianist Ran Blake. “He taught me not to just fit into a particular style. Rather, to reflect on my inspirations and create my own musical setting,” she explains. On her debut album, Here, There, the Paris-born, Boston-raised songwriter sounded like she was doing just this: tickling the edge of dissonance and playfully subverting expectations with her knotty piano arrangements and inquisitive lyrics as she formed her own space.
On her new EP, Easy, she’s still forming this world around her, creating space bit by bit. This time around though she fills her space with a lot more toys. While piano and voice are still the central figures, there are also sprinklings of guitar, bass, synths, and even drum machines. How Weikart uses her voice is also different, creating ghostly layers as a backdrop to sidle alongside her; on “Wasting time” it’s like a crying theremin, while on “Better when you wait” her operatic-like voice suspends over twinkling piano like a spectral presence. Conjuring more layers, Weikart still sounds like she’s painting her own specific landscapes, but the swirl of textures is notably different than anything she’s made before.
And though the range of sounds might be greater on Easy, the tone is very much on the muted side. These are frosty songs that belong to the winter months. The opening title track paints a grey day, like entering the room after a heated argument with a loved one. The atmosphere feels saturated and wispy, Weikart’s forlorn piano chords ushering along her promise that she’ll “make it easy.” On “Lullaby” she feeds in field recordings of waves lapping against the shore while her voice, warbled and aquatic with digital effects, sounds like she’s singing as she sinks to the bottom of a lake. (Considering the EP is dedicated to Weikart’s late uncle who passed away in September 2023, that there is something of a lurking mournful tone is not wholly surprising.)
There is playfulness though, and (though it does still feel like white against grey) there are also small shafts of light to be found. “Running in the rain” has a pleasing Yann Tiersen-like bob in its rhythm, a colourful synth and organ licking the edges, and a sprightly solo from Weikart. Final track “One day” plays like a jazz standard at first glance (complete with satisfying double bass from Carmen Quill) as Weikart acknowledges the passing of time (“One day I was wasting time in April / And then it turned to May / What can I say? / It’s spring again”). “Wasting time” is the undeniable highlight though, complete with rippling piano chords, a welcome drum track, and slinky, driving electric bass (courtesy of Emmanuel Szczygiel). It constricts itself inwards and winds itself up to marvellous effect, and even though Weikart still sounds like she’s keeping the listener at a distance (like on Here, There), the space between feels lesser.
She’s painting with muted navies, aquamarines, and monochrome hues on Easy, and the additional alluring instrumentation she plays with all add to a space that still very much feels like her own – even if it is still in the process of forming fully.
