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Reviews

Emily Bezar — Vista
(Bandcamp no#, 2026, DL)

by Jon Davis, Published 2026-03-22

Vista Cover art

I’ve been a big fan of Emily Bezar’s music since I first heard Moon in Grenadine back in the 90s, and each successive release has provided further evidence that my enthusiasm is justified. She creates a unique blend of rock, jazz, classical, and experimental electronic music that is full of unexpected sounds, poetic lyrics, and exceptional performances from all the musicians involved. All topped by her expressive and flexible voice, which I find endlessly enrapturing. And in her case, the relative infrequency of her albums only adds to their preciousness. Vista comes after a significant gap — Out of the Moment came out in 2019 — but, as if in reward for our patience, is actually a double album, containing eleven vocal songs in the first part (which is dubbed Radial Mind) and seven instrumental pieces in the second (called Secteur). The songs of Radial Mind were written during the Covid lockdown, and reading the lyrics reveals a sense of isolation, though her words are generally oblique at best, full of fleeting images and symbols only she has the decoder to unlock. Listening to the music and letting it wash over you, the lyrics only serve as the reason for her voice to exist, and the sum effect of her keyboards, the drums (Jason Hoffheins), and the bass (Brian Mesko, who also adds guitar on a few tracks) is wonderful, always perfectly suited to the needs of the song. The music is unpredictable in the best way, both harmonically and structurally, with unexpected chords and melodies as well as many diversions from typical verse-chorus arrangements. I can’t begin to pick a favorite track — it’s always the one that’s playing at any given moment.

Secteur is a reflection back on a time of mental illness Bezar suffered in 2003, which she discusses on her website, and reading her eloquent words is a reminder how fragile a human mind is. It’s astonishing, really, how nerve cells use miniscule amounts of chemicals and electricity to produce what we call thought, a massive system of parallel and serial processes that somehow come together in a coherent way (at least when things are working right). The larger any kind of system gets, the more parts it has, the more there is that can go wrong. As a software developer who has a human mind, I am acutely aware that our brains are not like computers, and our minds don’t work like software, but both minds and software are fragile in many ways. It’s a lot to think about, though it’s eminently possible to listen to these instrumental tracks without thinking about what inspired them. The suite starts with “They Are Waiting in the Van Outside,” an energetic piece that prominently features one of Bezar’s greatest talents: coming up with synthesizer tones that don’t sound like anyone else. This ear for great sounds applies to her rhythm parts as well, with interesting processing on the drum parts. I suppose you could describe this as electronic music with occasional piano, as it’s generally the synthesizers that are most prominent, but Bezar’s luscious timbres lift it above most other electronic music. Secteur is in that nether land between dance-oriented techno and ambient, with soundscapes worthy of any ambient master, but in the context of relatively concise pieces with pulse, structure, and melody. Each half of Vista is a notable achievement, and taken as a whole it’s likely to be one of the year’s best releases.

Filed under: New releases, 2026 releases

Related artist(s): Emily Bezar

More info
http://emilybezar.bandcamp.com/album/vista

 

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