Thursday, February 13, 2025

Eliza Rhinelander is on The Precipice with her sophomore album

The Halifax-based singer-songwriter releases her latest album on February 5, 2025.

Halifax-based singer-songwriter Eliza Rhinelander releases her sophomore album, The Precipice, on February 5, 2025.

In this Q&A, Rhinelander discusses her music and the new album, which will be available February 5, 2025, on all streaming platforms and her website, elizarhinelander.com.

This interview has been edited.

Please introduce yourself to our readers.

The album is about those moments of consideration when you’re on the edge of something, staring down at a dizzying height, not knowing what you’re going to do. – Eliza Rhinelander

I’m a 19-year-old singer-songwriter born and raised in Halifax, Nova Scotia. With a fiddler for a mother, I was lucky to grow up surrounded by folk music, and I started writing my own songs when I was 15.

In May 2024, I released my debut EP, Good Old Days. It consists of six folksy, lyrically driven songs I wrote when I was 15 and 16. The EP explores and reflects on the past.

How do you describe your new album, The Precipice?

The Precipice is a coming-of-age story. I wrote the album when I was 17 and 18, in my last year of high school and first year of university. The songs chronicle life at the cusp of adulthood: staying up all night, saying goodbyes, forming deep connections with people, severing them, wanting to run away, wanting to stay.

While my first EP, Good Old Days, was rooted in folk music, The Precipice is harder to define by a single genre.

My own coming-of-age included a lot of exploration and trying new things. I think that’s reflected in the sound of this album. It disregards the boundaries of genre, exploring elements across folk, rock, indie, pop, even country and bluegrass. My producer, Silas Bonnell, and I had a lot of fun with this freedom. We ended up with some really interesting, wacky combinations, like in the lead single Hurricane Party, which features fiddle alongside a crazy electric guitar solo, or Sappho 31, where we used a church organ.

Why The Precipice as the title?

I love the image of the edge of a cliff. To me, a precipice is an in-between, a deciding moment. You’re on a precarious perch, and you can’t stay for long— either you jump off or wait until the rock crumbles under your feet. The album is about those moments of consideration when you’re on the edge of something, staring down at a dizzying height, not knowing what you’re going to do.

What was the inspiration for the album? Is there a theme?

The Precipice will be available on most streaming platforms on February 5, 2025.
The Precipice will be available on streaming platforms on February 5, 2025.

Some of the songs are directly inspired by moments in my own life, while others are inspired by books, movies, stories my friends have told me about their lives, or completely imagined scenarios.

For example, Know Better, the second single, is inspired by Princesse de Clèves, a book about a young wife in the 16th-century French court. She falls for a young nobleman but suppresses her feelings and doesn’t act on them. Even though 400 years separated us, I felt so connected to this character— she describes being scared of her feelings, seeing them as something dangerous. Coming to terms with the reality of myself as something I can’t always fully control was a terrifying part of growing up. I was able to use the images and situations of the book to express that.

The album is built around the theme of coming-of-age. It’s about deciding the life you want to live and the person you want to be. This is often framed as a question of self-control: to hold on or to let go. The Precipice explores both extremes — Hurricane Party is edgy, rebellious chaos, while Know Better is repression and unfulfillment. Going to the party vs staying home. My own coming-of-age has been about figuring out which space I want to occupy between the two. I’ve found the only way to do that is by testing boundaries and learning from experience. The Precipice is that story.

What is your favourite song to perform off the album, and why?

If I had to choose? Mind Over Matter. It’s really intense and really honest, so every time I perform it, I get such a cathartic feeling. It’s about painting a picture of a cookie-cutter life for yourself and knowing it isn’t how you want to live your life but sort of wishing you wanted it anyway. And there’s a moment where the guitars just shred. It’s so much fun.

What’s next for Eliza?

As this album comes out, I’m also working on music videos for some of the songs, which is very exciting. It’s so cool to figure out a way to tell the stories of these songs through a visual medium.

This summer, I’m composing a score for a play at Shakespeare by the Sea, a beloved Halifax summer theatre company that performs in Point Pleasant Park. I worked with them last year, composing for their production of Twelfth Night, and I’m so excited to be back writing for theatre again. They announce their season on April 23, so check that out.

Beyond that, I’m currently picking up a new instrument: the banjo. I’m just starting, but I’ve already fallen in love with it and am beginning to write some tunes that I am so excited about. So, whatever comes next will probably have a bit of a bluegrass twang.

You can find more information on Eliza Rhinelander and her music at elizarhinelander.com or follow her on Instagram and TikTok.

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