Eddie Berman

• Americana

Portland, OR-based singer/songwriter Eddie Berman shares a second track, “Pascal’s Triangle,” from his upcoming album Frontiers, out September 20th. “Pascal’s Triangle” sees Berman’s heartfelt delivery resound through deliberate flatpicking and lush choral harmonies. Evoking the life-altering experience of seeing his first child for the first time after his wife’s tumultuous delivery, the track proves to be passionate and powerful.

The name of the song was inspired by a passage from John O’Donohue’s book Beauty, in which he paraphrases a quote from Blaise Pascal, saying: “In times of hardship keep an image of beauty in your mind.” Berman explains, “It’s the idea that holding on to one irreducible, genuinely beautiful thing can see you through anything. When I first read that notion, I immediately thought of the birth of my daughter. Holding her brand-new, little body against my chest felt like stepping into a new frontier. Parenthood is obviously a long and daunting road, but that first moment seems like it will sustain me through all of it.”

With Frontiers, the critically acclaimed troubadour surveys himself and the world around him over the course of 11 heartfelt vignettes rooted in his signature fingerpicking style, accompanied by ethereal lap steel, bellowing double bass, and orchestral percussion. The album, in all its warm yet vibrant production, is inspired by nature, literature, and, of course, the joys and struggles of Berman’s own life. He previously released lead single “The Match,” which blends bending fingerpicking and boisterous horns with a meditative beat soaked in droning harmonium.