Wednesday 15 July 2015

Vaadat Charigim - Hadavar Haamiti

Once in a while, in amongst the latest chart releases and indie EPs, you get sent something to review that is a little special or unusual. Vaadat Charigim are both.

The Israeli trio formed in 2012 and released their first LP with the title The World is Well Lost; on September 25th 2015, they will follow it with the UK release of their second album, Sinking as a Stone, from which Hadavar Haamiti is taken.

Already some readers will be thinking "boo, Israel" and while we're not going to launch a political debate here, it's worth taking a moment to recognise that Vaadat Charigim - consisting of vocalist Yuval Haring, drummer Yuval Guttman and bassist Dan Fabian Bloch - are just three people who happen to be from Israel.

They are not the Israeli government, although the turbulence of their surroundings has a clear place in the tone of their recordings.

Haring says: "Instead of singing about missiles falling on a shopping mall and naming the missile and the shopping mall, I am taking the essence of that, and breaking it down to its basic mechanism. I am dealing with it piece by piece, as fragments."


The politics of a nation should never prevent artistic expression of any kind - although, as is the case here, it can certainly sculpt the tone of a musical work.

Vaadat Charigim have a frankly amazing sound, like an Israeli Stone Roses singing in a cathedral, choral and anthemic, moving and contradictorily uplifting.

I can only imagine the sense of affirmation their music might carry in more optimistic times. I hope we might find out, one day.

Until then, their music carries a quite different message, and one that would be all but impossible to convey in words alone.

Vaadat Charigim's second album, Sinking as a Stone, is due for UK release on September 25th via Burger/Anova records.

Buy Sinking as a Stone on audio CD from Amazon now, download The World is Well Lost as an MP3 album, or see more digital music downloads from Vaadat Charigim.