Whatever happened to the independent ladies of the Lilith fair era, that golden time from the 90s when everyone re-learned how cool the piano and a great voice can be. Half Waif has some of that singer-songwriter sensibility setting off her emotions, but coupled with a scientist’s flair for sound design (check out the long and soaring intro to album opener ‘Wooden Horse’). New EP ‘Future Joys’ is at first an intimate journey told through her carefully wrought piano plays… but I’m continually surprised at how inventive the journey becomes as everything gets wound through her endlessly inventive sonic machinery.
So if you’ve ever wondered what kind of offspring Tori Amos might have had if she’d spent one stormy night with Brian Eno, check out Half Waif’s new record here. – Mike Levine (@Goldnuggets)