Bay Area-based songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist Eli Wise presents Ghosts and Logic, a three-song EP shaped by change, self-discovery, and the competing demands of creativity and everyday life. After nearly a decade focused on his career as an educator and raising his children, Wise found his way back to songwriting, resulting in a collection that approaches existential questions with an unusually playful balance of vulnerability and humor.
A relatable, introspective folk charm flows on opening track “Everyone Goes Through Something Like This, But That Doesn’t Help.” “This is where I’d put the words if I hadn’t lost them all,” Wise’s opening delivery resonates amidst steady acoustic pulses and glistening piano, ascending into a brisker, emotive melodic charm in the ensuing sequence: “So here I am now back with pen and paper.” A modern insight combines with more timeless aspects of time, capturing the sting of losing a digital life’s work, while finding dark humor in how sudden data loss triggers spirals about aging, mortality, and domestic distraction.
The rest of the EP continues this knack for memorable songwriting and lyrical wit. “Out In The Cold” struts a twangy guitar appeal amidst playful rhythms, drawing a comparison to the stylish sounds of Vampire Weekend in that alluring guitar work. Thematically, the track traces the hypocrisy of authoritative rule. “They said bodies like mine must be banned / Transformation’s not part of the plan,” the lyrics stir, exposing how gatekept power leaves marginalized people freezing out in the cold. Meanwhile, EP finale “I Had To Choose” melds jangly and twangy guitars, exploring artistic identity in a trade-off between authentic identity and artistic expression: “I had to choose / Between being who I was / Or being able to / Really sing the blues.” Ghosts and Logic is a consuming success of an EP from Eli Wise.
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“I Had to Choose” and other tracks featured this month can be streamed on the updating Obscure Sound’s ‘Emerging Singles’ Spotify playlist.
We discovered this release via MusoSoup.
