Swedish / Israeli songwriter Nelly Klayman-Cohen has gathered together a fine group of likeminded friends and experimentalists to bring colour and texture to her second set of melancholic masterpieces as Rotem Geffen. All pieces are based around the piano and her beguiling half spoken / half sung delivery, its adorable tone filled with childlike wonder even if the subject is the scattering of broken hearts.
There is an intensity to the delivery especially when set against the stark tones of solo piano, the English words of the self-titled opener dancing into German as Katt Hernandez‘s lazy violin curls around the piano like smoke. These shards of violin that are spread throughout the album work as threads that draw the stories along, a serrated light into which the voice stares longingly. The philosophical and psychological merge in places: “If the rain and stars don’t know me, then who will?”; but the delivery is dreamlike always, with a vivid depiction of a liminal state and one that can’t help but affect the listener.
In “I Always Know”, flowers grow from throats and beautiful gardens are internalised, this unique imagery encircled by the insistent creep of double cello, curling its fist around the song, holding it still while the words flow, imbued with life and warmth. Each song is inhabited by different characters and on “Ich Vermisse Dich”, the notes of the strings sound as if they are being crushed from the instruments. There is a kind of inherent wildness that, although the pieces move sparingly, leads you outside into an atmosphere damp with dew and the trails of animals. Flower imagery appears again on “I’m Allowed To Love You” and the softness of voice allied to the lullaby piano is so gentle, but questions remain: who is doing the allowing and why is this acceptable? The string backing is comforting here and Isak Hedtjärn‘s fluttering flute is seen through the window summoned by a night full of surprises that includes the addition of sousaphone, the moth to a particularly appealing lamp, glowing golden, a brief swell of heart-warming softness.The final track is just lovely; a tale of differences and loss set against a textured growth. The delivery contains such sadness and the words “You went in the water, I went down in the ground” are the most profound realisation of a couple’s disparities I can remember in a long time. It is a long-form poem of heartache; yet there is also a sanguine element which with the gentle piano motif gives it a quality to which the listener desires to return, just in case it is ever resolved.
Rotem Geffen’ The Night Is The Night is a delightful collection of doomed romance delivered in a way that finds you holding your breath in anticipation. I am going to have to go back to the first album to see how Nelly developed such sensitivity; but for now, this is going straight back on and I suggest you track it down.-Mr Olivetti-
