Album review
Sivan Arbel
Oneness (2024)
Adhyâropa Records
By: Robin Boer
Sivan Arbel, the critically acclaimed Israeli vocalist, songwriter, and educator, has once again captivated the international jazz scene with her latest album, “Oneness.” Known for her vibrant presence and deep love for dance, Sivan’s music offers a playful blend of jazz infused with diverse influences from her Israeli roots and global travels. Her performances are a unique fusion of rhythm, groove, scat improvisation, movement, and dance, making her a standout artist.
Sivan’s curiosity and openness to diverse influences have been a hallmark of her career, and this is evident in her musical explorations in Brooklyn, New York. During the pandemic, she delved into classic Indian singing through regular jam sessions with her neighbor and collaborator, Jay Gandhi, a master of the bansuri flute and member of Brooklyn Raga Massive. Their collaboration brought a fusion of Indian classical music with contemporary jazz to her third album, “Oneness” (2024). This is most notably heard in tracks like “Dreamland,” where Gandhi’s flute adds an otherworldly, meditative quality to the music.
In October 2020, ProgJazz did an interview with Sivan Arbel, who released two albums at that point. You can (re)visit that interview here.
The album “Oneness” further developed during a week-long residency at Avaloch Farm Music Institute in New Hampshire in 2022. Here, Sivan and her band—Nick Hetko (piano), Sam Weber (bass), and Evan Hyde (drums)—refined the album’s compositions. Years of collaboration since 2016 allowed the band to infuse the album with rhythmic complexity, improvisation, and emotional depth. The album captures Sivan’s ongoing exploration of unity through diversity, drawing deeply from her experiences both in Israel and Brooklyn.
The album opens with the beautiful “Dreamland,” featuring a suggestive flute intro accompanied by piano. As the bass joins in, the song’s rhythm unfolds, complemented by Sivan’s gentle vocals. The piece concludes with an impressive and emotional flute solo, reprising the main vocal part.
“Black Feet,” released as a single prior to the album’s release, showcases great chord sequences and piano ornaments, with distinctive routings in the sung melody line. The rhythm is percussion-led and smooth, with the bass playing a supportive role, mostly sticking to single notes in each chord.
“Let Go” stands out with its warm and emotional character, highlighted by a superb vocal performance and a wonderful instrumental band performance. The sonic palette is at its most complete, with shifting rhythms and a tasteful implementation of bass grooves and melodies.
“The Pit,” in 7/8 time, features excellent harmonic progressions. The vocalized intersections between the regular verses are particularly pretty, and the piece includes a spectacular solo on the Fender Rhodes halfway through.
“Yin Yang,” another pre-release single, is notable for its creative placement of chords and melodies within rhythmic shifts. This highly creative composition boasts a huge variety of harmonic progressions and time signature variations, along with outstanding drum and piano work. It serves as a perfect introduction to Arbel’s music.
The ballad “Second Floor Beloved” features Hebrew lyrics, Arbel’s native language, and there’s a very tasteful cover of Tears For Fears’ “Everybody Wants To Rule The World,” a song that has regained popularity due to its relatable lyrics.
The title track, presented in quintuplets, concludes the album with a beautiful musical climax.
From a sonic standpoint, the arrangements—comprising acoustic and electric piano, organ, drums, percussion, bass, and vocals are well balanced throughout the record, bringing the rich harmonies, melodies, and rhythmic variety to life in a very vidid and crafty way.
Sivan Arbel shapes her own universe with natural, earthy lyrics and intuitive vocalizing, speaking her mind freely without being constrained by clichéd musical conventions. Clearly, the music comes first, serving as much more than just a vehicle for the lyrics.
Personnel:
- Sivan Arbel: Vocals
- Nick Hetko: Keyboards
- Sam Weber: Bass
- Evan Hyde: Drums
- Jay Gandhi: Bansuri Flute
- Tripp Dudley: Percussion
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