Avi and Benji Fox-Rosen Offer Different Breeds of Jewish Indie Music
Reviewed:
Avi Fox-Rosen, Luminescent Orchestrii
How deep does the sibling rivalry between New York Jewish indie-scene brothers Avi and Benji Fox-Rosen run? The two worked together on the upcoming “The Amazing Frozen String Quartet,” described on Avi’s website as “a record dedicated to the explosion of roots music through juxtaposition, unexpected arrangements and irreverence.” Their separate projects, however, take wildly divergent approaches to creating a contemporary Jewish sound. Is this town big enough for the both of them?
Upon hearing the opening notes of Avi’s solo album, One, released independently in October of 2007, a listener might sigh at the thought of yet another album of sensitive, gag-inducing guy ballads set to a strummed acoustic guitar. Add to this the fact that you know it’s “Jewish” music, and your cheese-meter registers off the charts. Thankfully, however, this impression only holds true for a minority of the album’s ten tracks.
On slow songs like “All I’d Like to Say” and “Alone in the City,” Avi’s vocals and lyrics are sweet, but the overall effect is simply not engaging. In contrast, “Contradiction” is a fun, blues-inflected song featuring a surprising appearance of a string quartet about halfway through. “Burn” has a beautiful string presence as well, and features some exciting climaxes. It is on these tracks that we get a taste of Avi’s originality as a composer. Lyrically, the songs are accessible but predictable, sticking mostly to love, women, and religion. Things get a bit more interesting on “Jerusalem” in which Avi sings, “Jerusalem is torn in two/Each mother is clutching one half of the body/King Solomon presides over this/You’re stupider than you might have been.” By invoking the tale of King Solomon’s court, Avi evokes a Biblical gloss on the split reality of contemporary Jerusalem.
I first saw Benji’s band, Luminescent Orchestrii, perform downstairs at the Knitting Factory at a Shemspeed.com party in October. The experience was revelatory. Their set was short but electric, and I changed my MySpace song to their sultry yet silly “Knockin” as soon as I got home.
Luminescent Orchestri describes its music as “Gypsy Tango Klezmer Punk,” and though it seems a convoluted label, their sound could not be better described. Their seemingly schizophrenic leaps between Eastern European Jewish Wedding music, surrealistic carnival ballads, and East Village punk, meld into a surprisingly coherent whole.
The four-piece ensemble features Sxip Shirey (resophonic guitar, bullhorn harmonicas, melodica), Sarah Alden (violin, vocals), Rima Fand (violin, viola, and vocals), and of course, Benji Fox-Rosen (mini-double bass). They have released two albums, a self-titled live album (2003) and Too Hot to Sleep (2005), with a third arriving in February.
In their track “Stranger,” with lyrics based on a traditional Bulgarian folk song, we hear a dark and seemingly absurdist song featuring the consistently high-pitched vocals of the band members. The live track “Make it Meow” is a mesmerizing repetitive romp.
Avi Fox-Rosen is undoubtedly a talented musician and composer who has great potential to break from the pigeonhole of sweet easy-listening solo tracks. Brother Benji, however, has already stumbled upon a unique project. Granted, it isn’t fair to compare a solo folk/rock album to a multi-stringed Orchestrii, but one can’t help but get excited when even amidst today’s klezmer-revival overload, we hear something so well crafted and playful as the Luminescent Orchestrii.
