Asaf Avidan
Gold Shadow

When it comes down to it, in the end, it's just a matter of touch; I could talk about genres, subgenres, make rankings, box everything into different colored boxes; how boring, though. What truly matters is, indeed, the touch, not the genre. The touch of Asaf Avidan is that of an elegant artist, difficult to fit into any specific subcategory, what more could you ask for? A great shaper of melodies, yes, this could be a sufficiently adequate definition to describe him. This intriguing and stylish thirty-five-year-old Israeli knows how to confuse ideas with ineffable nonchalance; one of the many traits that ennoble this album is without a doubt a peculiar chameleon-like quality, an uncommon ability to engage with different styles and sounds, reinventing himself song after song. Pop, rock, folk, hints of blues/soul, easy-listening, the finesse of a great singer-songwriter, "Gold Shadow" has all this and more, an ambitious intertwining of elements presented with an eccentric and extravagant flair just right. Something that sounds "dangerously," splendidly similar to my idea of Style in the absolute sense.

Three exact seconds in, and the first surprise arrives: a thin, nasal voice, slightly high-pitched, unusual but not too much; that type of voice that sticks, initially for the surprise, then for the personality and the absolute effectiveness. And Asaf knows how to use that voice well, oooh yes, he crafts fantastic pieces, starting right from "Over My Head", impeccable vintage-easy listening in a semi-acoustic key. With some minor "cosmetic" modifications, such a song would seem to come directly from a Gene Pitney collection: the way the chorus is punctuated and emphasized, an apparent timbral affinity, the recovery of the timeless canons of beautiful melody. Brief duration and maximum yield; in short, the essence of the sublime art of the "little song". This is the beginning, just the beginning, Asaf Avidan doesn't miss a beat, showing very high levels of inspiration and crystal-clear talent: textbook orchestrations in "A Part Of This" and "My Tunnels Are Long And Dark These Days", a masterpiece with glamour and noir shades, a dry yet refined acoustic blues like "Bang Bang", then "The Labyrinth Song" and "Fair-Haired Traveller", folk ballads at opposite ends, the first spectral and tormented, a stream of consciousness, inspired by and a tribute to Leonard Cohen, the second light, melancholic, of rare sweetness. Irony and a tasty riff in "The Jail That Sets You Free", an electric episode, impeccably stylish and incisive, theatricality and a rapid and luxuriant crescendo of "Little Parcels Of An Endless Time", also "These Words You Want To Hear", another vintage gem; a mercurial song, with ironic twists, balancing between cute little choirs, a street accordion with its unmistakable, dreamily melancholic voice, and a melody that still manages to take flight.

Asaf Avidan, an artist in the wake of many yet at the same time of none in particular: I've mentioned some references, others not, his personality is strong enough to rework it all in a distinctly personal way. But "Gold Shadow" is not just music, Asaf Avidan is not just a melody maker, to appreciate this work in its entirety, it is absolutely essential to understand the lyrics, the ability to describe moods with simple and vivid, visionary images, an elegant, straightforward yet enigmatic songwriting, imbued with fatalism and disillusionment, often tempered by subtle irony; the reflection of a complex and fascinating personality. However, I don't want to quote striking excerpts, no, that's not his style. I wouldn't do justice to the songwriter Asaf Avidan: every text is a unified flow, every verse inserted into a larger context, so there's only one effective way to convey it. I haven't yet talked about the most beautiful song, the one that gives the album its title, "Gold Shadow"; a sublime twilight ballad, D. Bowie pre-Ziggy period, but also Paul Ryan of "Scorpio Rising": I reproduce its lyrics in full, it might be useless, but I do it anyway, I don't know what I would give to be able to write something even remotely comparable.

There's a gold shadow seeping through the door
There's a cold sparrow lying still upon the floor
Dead and true as lipstick
Slow as the speed of skin
There's a gold, gold shadow growing from within

There's a bent willow in the moonlight painted blue
There's a spent window silhouetting you
Deep and true as whiskey
Soft and sure as lies
There's a bent, bent willow reflecting in your eyes

But now there's a girl out in a boat
Her arms are outstretched and she's barely afloat
There's a man on the shore, a rope in his hands
It's tied to the boat, and he's pulling as hard as he can
Not to bring her to him, but to pull the whole shore
and the whole world with it to her open door
All his voices are her
All his voices are her

Has he been here before?
Nobody's sure

There's a silver distance, a luminescent glimpse
There's a river of resistance, dried to cracks upon your lips
Brittle as believing
Sticky as betrayal
There's a silver distance opening up like a trail

There was a time before all the leaves
covered the beauty of Adam & Eve
And they were blind, and they were free
To be whatever they wanted to be
But now they are just a prayer in a song
And he is so sorry for all that went wrong
All his voices are her
All his voices are her

Has he been here before?
Has he been here before?