Trash by Els Vandeweyer

Made 
to give value 
to scrap again. 
 
I found a broken acoustic guitar 
on a big pile of garbage 
in my uncle’s garage. 
 
I could have it. 

I never became a guitar player because the strings were too hard to press down on. 
My father screwed the neck of the guitar back onto its resonant body, but due to the tension of the strings the instrument took on the shape of a bow. Overwhelmed by the guitar’s overtones, I went in search of the idiosyncrasies of this treasure.The plectrum, the slider, the bow, the sticks, the knitting needle, the metal rods, the tiny drum, the marbles, the mezrab, my fingers—each playing method evokes another world.

E.V.


With her sophomore album, Els Vandeweyer takes a rather unexpected detour after her truly hypnotizing "Debut' on 90% Wasser. If 'Debut' brought us to awe and showcased Els uncanny ability to express delicate albeit daring, timeless vibraphone compositions reminiscent of jazz sensibilities yet defying classification, 'Trash' confirms her talent as a true original, as fearless and free spirited as they come. Composed entirely on a trash guitar, covering Allen Ginsberg in a decidedly honest and heartfelt grunge fashion, yet displaying again her unique style and percussive techniques —this time extrapolated to strings, and channeled via a then-unknown-to-her minimal medium— 'Trash' makes the best out of its self imposed limitations and unfolds as a genuinely intimate, refreshing, daringly original, and for all this reasons, most precious album.