For those unaware, Ben Wood and Eve Seltzer conceived of this album during the COVID lockdown of 2020.

Indeed, they chose tunes that reflected how they felt in isolation, and arranged them for a duo setting to capture the intimacy of the hours they spent on the couch playing music together in their Brooklyn apartment.

The title, Pairings (due out March 14th, 2023), is a nod to Ben Wood’s work as a sommelier. In fact, the CD includes drink suggestions for each song.

1. Too Close For Comfort [Red Wine pairing]
2. I’m Old Fashioned [Georgian Orange Wine pairing]
3. I Don’t Wanna Sing [Bourbon pairing]
4. Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most [Gin and Tonic pairing]
5. Joseph, Joseph [Man, ob, Manisbewitz pairing!]
6. Lune de Miel [Loire Red pairing]
7. Stolen Moments (Electric Version) [Negronis pairing]
8. I’m Glad There Is You [Champagne pairing]
9. This Time the Dream’s On Me [Orange Wine pairing]
10. Save the Country [Oregon Pinot Noir pairing]
11. Stolen Moments (Acoustic Version) [Bonus Track]

This dulcet, embroidered, old-fashioned and yet stirringly ambient for today, new recording opens on the jaunty, acoustic-pop sense within Too Close For Comfort and the playfully poppy, jubilantly-imbued I’m Old Fashioned, and they are followed by the ranging, impassioned I Don’t Wanna Sing, the delicious storytelling within the seasonally-hued Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most, and the melodically, German-sung Joseph, Joseph.

Along next is the impishly flirtatious Lune de Miel and the dedicated Stolen Moments (Electric Version), and they are in turn backed by the delicate rhythms and hushed vocals found within I’m Glad There Is You, the album rounding out on the triumphant This Time the Dream’s On Me, closing on the diligently, sentimentally-structured Save the Country and a bonus Stolen Moments acoustic track.

Official Website