Brooklyn-based folk songwriter Elizabeth P.W. weaves together her love of folk music with modern cinematic elements to create evocative and intimate scores for film and tv, and songs that tell compelling stories through unique soundscapes. In the Summer of 2019, she released her debut folk album, Haven’t Found It, to critical acclaim. Now, she releases her second album, The Company You Keep.
Her new acoustic indie folk album was written during the pandemic when Elizabeth was in extreme isolation due to her Crohn’s Disease, for which she takes immunocompromising medication. In that isolation, she was forced to find new ways of maintaining her relationships with friends and family. “In my isolation, ruminations ran wild. This was a blessing and a curse,” Elizabeth reveals. “To have the time to figure out your relationship to yourself and others is a gift we may never feel so strongly again, but it was not without pain, heartbreak and discord.”
The Company You Keep explores aspects of relationships and delves deep into the human psyche. Her hit single “Brooklyn” was inspired by the sudden death of her Aunt in a car crash going into Manhattan. She realized that she was the last living member of her family to reside in Brooklyn. She sings about the way her relationship with her family changed and the way she approached her ancestry.
The dramatic and fantastical folk song “Black & Blue” takes on the adage “hurt people, hurt people.” “I found it to be so palpably true over the last 2.5 years of living through this crazy time period,” says Elizabeth. “Everyone has been struggling with something and there are those who dig into themselves to find the source of their own pain and then there are those who just spew their pain outwards onto those surrounding them.” The song is a rallying call to do the work on yourself before projecting onto others.
The folk rock single “Medicine” explores Elizabeth’s relationship with Crohn’s Disease and how it isolated her during the pandemic. She sings “How much medicine until I’m free?,” pleading with her mind and body for some hope. The title song, “The Company You Keep,” explores the toxic side of a relationship she once had. It was a time that she felt most alone and this song became her way out.
Elizabeth has the songwriting genius of Sara Barielles and Brandi Carlile with a voice like Taylor Swift meets Ingrid Michaelson. Outside of music, Elizabeth partnered with the innovative non-profit, Emily’s Entourage, to turn her debut single into a fundraising and awareness campaign to fight rare mutations of Cystic Fibrosis in 2018. The song, “Anyway” is performed by two-time Tony nominee Laura Osnes (Grease, Cinderella, Bandstand), Gideon Glick (Spring Awakening, Significant Other), Christy Altomare (Mamma Mia, Anastasia), Javier Muñoz (In The Heights, Hamilton) and Sarah Levy (Netflix’s Schitt’s Creek).
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