Stereo Embers The Podcast 0197: Elizabeth Ziman (Elizabeth and the Catapult)

“Pop The Placebo”

The Greenwich Village-born Elizabeth Ziman started playing the piano at a young age. How young? Well, she penned her first song at age 6, so she got going pretty fast. A start like that makes her scholarship to study classical composition at the Berklee College of Music and her nabbing an ASCAP Leiber and Stoller scholarship not a very big surprise. So her scholastic plan was hatched and she was ready to go, But like they always say, the best plans are born from the plans that don’t happen. And you can’t plan for that. You just go with it. And Ziman did just that—her plan to focus on scoring films was upended by Patti Austin tapping her for an Ella Fitzgerald tour that found Ziman on the road for almost two years. She got back to Berkelee and as her collegiate career was ending, she put together Elizabeth and the Catapult. From there, things stated to move fast. The band put out an EP in 2006, signed with Verve in 2008 and put out their first record Taller Children in 2009. In the past 15 years, the Brooklyn band has put out five albums, collaborated with Ben Folds, Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, opened for Sara Bareilles at Madison Square Garden and nabbed an Independent Music Award. That fifth album is Sincerely, E, a nimble and poetic effort written and recorded during the past year under quarantine and if you found yourself making series of pandemic pivots since March of 2020, Sincerely E is the soundtrack of those pivots. A heartbreaking, soulful and comforting effort, it finds Ziman playing with poise, finesse, wisdom and grace. From the spry pop of “Thirsty” to the thoughtful and aching “Pop The Placebo,” it’s stark, dark, and ultimately thrilling. In this chat, Elizabeth and Alex talk about rabbits, Michael Keaton, technical dependence, binge watching, reading weird reviews and getting better at saying No…..

Order Sincerely, E: https://store.compassrecords.com/products/sincerely-e