Ezra Feinberg's Meditative Instrumental "God Sized Hole" Will Chill You Out

Ezra Feinberg used to live in San Francisco, where he led the cosmically minded rock band Citay, folding the wide-eyed folk of hippiedom into ambitious, classic rock-tinged mini-epics. But after six years and four albums, he brought the project to a close in 2012. A close friend, who had been a mentor to Feinberg, died of cancer. He stepped away from music, left the West Coast, moved to Brooklyn, got married, started a family, and dedicated himself to working as a psychoanalyst.

All of this finds its way into Feinberg’s debut solo album, Pentimento And Others, out February 2 on Related States. Its seven gentle instrumental songs build gently but quickly overwhelm, with bright acoustic guitars lapping over hypnotic synths, an upbeat flute drifting into bright piano keys. The album title speaks to that minimalist sound as much as it speaks to Feinberg’s mindset through its creation. Pentimento is a concept in art history meaning “the visible presence of earlier strokes or forms beneath layers of paint on a canvas.” It comes from the Italian pentirsi, which means “to repent or change your mind.”

“God Sized Hole,” premiering on Noisey today, is the first song on the record, and it will probably calm you down. It opens with almost two minutes of the most simple, patient guitar possible before opening up into a slow swell of new age sounds. There’s a good chance it’ll interrupt whatever you’re doing and force you chill out.

"'God Sized Hole' emerged as an almost fully formed piece, a burst of energy that stunned me the day it was written,” Feinberg said of the song. “It's named for a friend who is still here but not with me, and for the power of absence."

Listen to “God Sized Hole” below and catch Feinberg on his appropriately minimal tour in February and March. Dates for those shows are at the bottom of the page.

February 10 — San Francisco, CA @ Alley Cat Books
February 14 — Los Angeles, CA @ Zebulon
March 9 — Bushwick, NY @ Honey’s

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