Eliza Rickman performs on a toy piano at the Third Street Promenade on Wednesday, June 23, 2010. Rickman is a singer, songwriter and pianist living and performing in California. Her unique and haunting sound combines the lilting sweetness of popular vocalists like Feist or Annie Clark with the gritty sensibilities of PJ Harvey and the playfulness of Kurt Weill. The daughter of a Baptist preacher, Eliza discovered the piano at age eight. She innocently pounded away at a 120-year-old piano inherited from her grandfather while growing up in southern California. She went on to study classical piano, specializing in Ragtime at Azusa Pacific University. Eliza eventually changed her major to arranging and, at the urging of a teacher, began singing. Over the next few years, Eliza developed her original and unforgettable vocal style by listening to her voice on a four track recorder.

 

Shortly before graduating, Eliza began composing her own material, utilizing her talent for arranging string quartets and piano. When she began performing at Los Angeles venues, she purchased a toy piano out of necessity. The compact, antique, two-octave piano quickly became her trademark accompaniment. Its piercingly nostalgic sound created a lyrical dissonance with her deceptively powerful voice. While she still performs with a small chamber of musicians at venues like El Cid and Hotel Cafe, the toy piano is the central instrument on her new EP, Gild the Lily. Full of lovesick lullabies, Gild the Lily marries pure and sultry melodies with melancholy lyrics. The raven-haired, porcelain-skinned songstress serenades listeners into an unexpected vulnerability while leading them on a quest for love by a little girl lost.