Nice Things Said (Music)
"Chicago's Eric Ziegenhagen (a native Minneapolitan) makes strikingly unconventional folk music on his debut longplayer, You're Talking to the Wrong Guy, opting for a rarely seen approach to acoustic guitar playing (he writes and performs on a four-string nylon-string open-tuned guitar slung flat across his lap). The unconventional approach may have been born out of necessity (Eric's father would only let him play his guitar as long as he kept it in the case, and after he learned to play in that unconventional manner he never let it go), but it yields truly rich results, a sweetly plucked sound that feels oddly full in its nakedness. With a warbly voice strangely reminiscent of outsider music legend Daniel Johnston in its boyish innocence, Ziegenhagen has turned plenty of heads in search of something new in his current place of residence. Come on down and see what all the fuss is about. " -- Rob Van Alstyn, Pulse of the Twin Cities (March 9, 2005)
"Here's an odd tidbit. Local folk singer/songwriter Ziegenhagen learned to play guitar as a young child, but his father wouldn't let him take the guitar out of the case, so he learned with the instrument lying on its back. That's why he plays with it in his lap. Weird. Tonight [Friday, 1/28] sees the release of his first record, 'You're Talking to the Wrong Guy,' a collection of fourteen folk songs played on a four-stringed acoustic guitar, sung with true Midwest intimacy. 'Can't Hold Love at Bay' begins the record and puts you next to a dirty, boat-ridden lake down south, like an opening to one of those movies, when you're trying to establish Southern climate. Ziegenhagen sounds a little like Leonard Cohen but comes off more lighthearted, with his lyrics bouncing from the extremes of weather to the disappointment of love. When it's all said and done, Ziegenhagen shows how to balance personal lyrics with the general mouthful that appeals to everyone, and 'You're Talking to the Wrong Guy' exists on its own as a record of despondency that wisely never takes itself too seriously."-- Tom Lynch, New City Chicago (January 26, 2005)
"An intelligent and entertaining tunesmith with a vivid and playful imagination." -- Dan Wilkinson, Americana UK (May 2005
"Moonlighting Chicago playwright Eric Ziegenhagen revelled in the small turnout, which suited the rec-room intimacy of his performance style. His self-effacing between-song banter was just as entertaining as the tunes he crooned, accompanying himself on his lap-strummed acoustic guitar¿ A festival highlight." --Tim Perlich, NOW (Toronto weekly)
"His own lyrics are imaginative, as you might expect¿ He sings a lot about cold and snow, as is appropriate for a Great Lakes guy, using inclement weather to launch into a sort of atmospheric poetry of extremity in which the characters dodge monsters and love each other in the same kind of dreamy haze." --Monica Kendrick, Chicago Reader
"He plays a battered, four-string acoustic and sings spare, intimate little ditties that are low-key but just as witty as his pals."-- Tom Hallett, Pulse of the Twin Cities
"On the hit side are the more gentle acoustic tracks, such as Zapruder Point's softly-sung "Protection" or the tabloid-pastiche of Eric Ziegenhagen's 'Degredator'." -- Splendid E-Zine, reviewing "Open Mike: A Tribute to the Songs of Mike Merz"