Fool’s Gold is a Los Angeles collective that weaves together western pop aesthetics with African rhythms and melodies. The group started as a side project of two young LA musicians, vocalist/bassist Luke Top and lead guitarist Lewis Pesacov, who set out to explore their shared love of various forms of African music (specifically Congolese, Ethiopian, Eritrean and Malian), Krautrock, and 80s dance influenced pop music. Lewis, although raised on reggae and world music, holds a degree in classical music theory and composition. He studied underneath American avant-garde expatriate composers Mark Randall-Osborn and Frank Cox in Berlin and has had pieces performed in halls throughout Europe. Luke, who was born in Israel (his mother is from Iraq/father from Russia) and was moved to Los Angeles at the age of three, instinctively alternates verses between Hebrew and English, thus personalizing the songs and allowing a unique interplay between his deceptively simple soul melodies and a propulsive rhythmic backdrop. At first listen, it might be tempting to label Fool’s Gold as “world music,” but the band is, in its essence, a Los Angeles band; it is music made for hot nights in a sweltering desert. The multi-cultural group of players was born from a city that is a melting pot of neighborhoods and cultures.
Not too long after their communal beginnings of writing a few inspired songs and asking friends, friends of friends and even strangers to join them on stage, Fool’s Gold developed organically into a full-time band. Although some of them met for the first time on stage, they soon became an air-tight collective. The cast of characters includes Garrett Ray (of Foreign Born) on drums, Jimmy Vincent and Matt Popieluch (of Foreign Born) on guitar, Amir Kenan (childhood friend of Luke's from Israel) sings backup vocals and plays keys, Brad Caulkins and Mark Noseworthy on saxophones/flute, and on percussion: Orpheo McCord (who studied percussion in Ghana as well as moonlighted as drummer for The Fall), Brazilian/Mexican visual artist Salvador Placencia, Argentinean pop star Erica Garcia, Michael Tapper (ex-drummer of We Are Scientists), all of whom play a beautiful array of hand-made instruments including: Ewe, Gungon and Djembe skinned drums; Gankogui, Bananna bells and claves; Kashishi, nut-rattles, goat-toe rattles, Chekeres, Axatse shell gourds and an over-sized tambourine Mizhar bought on the street in Cairo, Egypt.
The songs for the forthcoming self-titled album were mostly recorded live over a two-day session at the Sunset Lodge recording studio in Los Angeles in 2008, to be later completed in closets and apartment living rooms in 2009. Lewis and Luke collaborated on the music, written over a three-year span. Luke would then weave in the Hebrew/English lyrics. The Hebrew initially tied him to a birthplace that he barely knew, but evolved to be the perfect vehicle to express the overarching themes of duality that are the heart of the songs. Leaving a land with a rich and tumultuous history for one that is constantly forgetting and reinventing laid a personal foundation for Luke’s lyrics, which often explore the tension between ones personal identity and the outside world. The songs resonate beyond just the immigrant experience to one that is understood by anyone who has struggled with dispelling illusions of the ego and the world. Although the melodies are jubilant, the irreverent and whimsical lyrics belie the tension of one exploring the existential and physical self.
Fool’s Gold has shared bills with artists as diverse as Cat Power, Fujiya & Miyagi and the Senegalese kora master Youssoupha Sidibe. They headlined the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles and the Getty Center. They were recently profiled on the French music television program “Tracks” as well as featured in the Los Angeles Times Magazine. On September 29th they will release their debut record on IAMSOUND Records.
No comments:
Post a Comment