Pretty Little Head Analysis

Chills coursed throughout my body when Eliza Rickman began singing. Her voice sounded even better in real life than it did recorded. I was astounded, bathed in the music, my throat clenching as I tried not to cry. Not only could she reach every note, but she sounded even more eerily haunting than I had dared to imagine. Her strange assortment of instruments was foreign to me, she had an antique toy piano, bells and even an accordion. Adam Joseph, writer for Monterey County Now, reported that inspiration struck when Rickman, tired of lugging around a keyboard almost as big as herself, realized she could play on her tiny antique piano, and she started using it at shows. This opened a door, and she now chooses to incorporate all sorts of different unique instruments (Joseph). When she performed “Pretty Little Head” it was instrumentally different than the recorded version, she did not have her usual band backing her, but it was just as beautiful and striking. The meaning, lyrics and instrumental use in “Pretty Little Head” by Eliza Rickman …show more content…
Her voice has an eerily ethereal sound, peeking interest and then keeping it as she changes her tone and volume throughout the piece. The vibrato during the chorus “Where’s your mother, fall down dead” creates an emphasis that makes the hairs stand up on the back of one’s neck (Rickman). Using back-up vocals of herself towards the middle of the recorded song, she adds emphasis and a depth that would otherwise be lost. These overlaying vocals also add an illusion of an echo, but this echo has an intention all its own, subtly gripping you, pulling you deeper into the melody. Placing ooh’s in a way that calls to the listener to sing along, Rickman seems to have a cryptic understanding of what sounds will speak to one’s soul, she puts this understanding into her