Kabbalachia – Basya Schechter and Shaul Magid (reviewed by Dave Franklin)

I spend my days writing about new music from grassroots artists. While it is great to hear so much new music being made, for the most part, it follows the same blues-based rock and pop forms, seeming to rehash what has been done before and often done better. So I love it when something truly set apart from the usual rock cliches and derivative pop pap finds its way to my review pile. And Kabbalachia is undoubtedly that.

As the title suggests to those who look close enough, the album blends Hebrew prayer and Appalachian music traditions. This might seem like an odd pairing, but it just speaks of the diversity and often surprising cultural mix of geographies and genres in today’s artistic world. The artistic world is, in turn, merely a microcosm of the larger world it exists in.

It is also a reminder that music, in its earliest form at least, comes from a devotional place, that song has long been the perfect form of praise. But also that music, particularly that labelled folk or roots, is one of the earliest artistic forms of entertainment too. By combining Jewish devotions with raw, rootsy sounds, Kabbalachia is tapping into music in its earliest, most honest and authentic reasons for existence—not to mention sacred and celebratory.

Right from the start, the sound is beguiling. Shiru lays out the stall perfectly. It is the sound of Eastern worship being driven by Western folk tradition. It is the perfect blend of Oriental mystique and Occidental groove, with exotic beats blending with spiralling fiddle into a heady, heartfelt, and heavenly mix.

From there, across ten songs, vocalist and guitarist, Basya Schechter and Shaul Magid, a man as deft with a pen as a banjo, blend these two cultural streams into a river of musical genius, sometimes ebbing more towards the devotional, other times heading towards the secular, and within this mix, truly creating songs of praise and poise, elegance and eloquence, grace and groove. From the lilting and lovely Ana B’khoach, which uses sparing folk sonics to create a dreamy, almost fairy tail soundscape, to Lecha Dodi, which blends raga sounds with harmonious vocals, it is a beautiful meeting of sonic worlds.

Alongside the titular musicians, mention should be made of Daniel Ori’s punctuating and often propulsive bass work, the soaring and spiraling violins of Megan Gould, and the rhythmic magic of the percussive work, here provided by Mathias Kunzli.

Even if, to my shame, the words are a mystery to me, they can be appreciated as a musical layer in their own right. They are always more than just words to be sung but instruments of a less tangible but no less expressive nature, Basya and vocal harmonist, Raechel Rosen adding luxurious tones and sonic textures, creating their own musicality that pools and percolates within, which washes and waves over the oft-spacious music.

Kabbalachia is not only a brave project but also a brilliant album, combining two culturally significant lines, the Jewish faith and the Appalachian sound, a sound that influenced everything from bluegrass to country to rock and roll throughout the twentieth century. On a personal note, listening to and writing about such music has been like an oasis in a desert of mundane modernity. (It also makes me beg the question as to why can’t all musicians be this adventurous?) Oh well, back to finding something worthy in a pile of CDs by bands who still think sounding like Arctic Monkeys is a winning move.