NYC Trio Kadawa Releases Self-Titled Debut Album with Special Guest Adam O'Farrill

By: Caryn Robbins Oct. 13, 2017

After an extensive tour spanning Switzerland, Germany, Spain, Italy, USA and their home country of Israel, collective trio KADAWA presents a vast repertoire of original compositions on their debut album, performed with the group's distinct explosive energy, adventurous interplay and imaginative sonic vocabulary.

Guitarist Tal Yahalom, double bassist Almog Sharvit and drummer Ben Silashi draw inspiration from jazz, rock, cinema and literature to create song-like instrumental compositions, driven by mood, story and improvisation. KADAWA teamed up with a creative group of collaborators in trumpeter Adam O'Farrill, trombonist Matt Bumgardner and keyboardist Micha Gilad to produce a dynamic, broad ranged 12 track recording that doesn't quite yield itself to simple categorization or a sole musical genre.

"During the past three years we've spent a long time developing, shaping and exploring this music, whether through frequent performances across NYC or in our shared apartment in Brooklyn," says Sharvit about the band's process. "We learned that properly capturing the essence of this material would require a special environment and ended up recording it all in the same room - an enormous warehouse space in Williamsburg with unusual acoustic conditions to take advantage of. It was a great experience and we're very happy with the result."

"Presenting an hour's worth of instrumental music certainly comes with many challenges," Silashi continues. "Capturing the listener's attention for so long is a tricky thing for any band, so our goal with this album was rather clear - to create a widely diverse set of music which has a natural and engaging flow to it. We tried to keep challenging and surprising our audience while still finding ways to maintain a good, satisfying balance throughout the course of this recording."

The album kicks off in an unusual manner with a harmonically rich, cinematic choral entitled 'When Old Age Comes.' Immediately followed by 'Aviators Tale,' a high energy thriller featuring odd-metered and unorthodox grooves, the album launches into a variety of musical territories as 'Yoreh' features strong, lyrical melodies and articulate rhythmic interactions. Through the intimately haunting 'Bed Time Story,' the humorous free-for-all of 'Shades Of A Happy Ending' and the strikingly rich soundscapes of 'Blizzard,' KADAWA's debut album provides an exciting ride through the different dimensions of the band's musical spectrum.

"Our compositions often represent, recreate or pay tribute to something which is completely non-musical, whether peaceful, sarcastic, frightening or bizarre," concludes Yahalom. "That way, even the most complicated and technical musical concepts end up serving a greater goal, which is to clearly deliver the message of this music to a larger pool of listeners, with the help of some common references and a measure of imagination."