Asaf Avidan Brings "A Voice Like No Other" (NPR) + "Lyrics Akin To Leonard Cohen And Bob Dylan" (New York Times) To New Album Anagnorisis Out September 11 

After earning Platinum records and #1 hits across Europe over the past decade, Asaf Avidan had planned to take some time to regroup in the rural Italian countryside this year, taking stock of life and planning out his next musical directions. Of course, those plans changed as the coronavirus pandemic swept across the Israeli musician's chosen retreat, and Asaf felt no choice but to tap into the complex, inherently chaotic and ever-changing nature of what it means to live in our current moment.The result is Anagnorisis (September 11 / Telmavar Records), a ten-song collection named after the Greek literary device in which a character experiences a sudden and complete moment of revelation. In this case, Asaf's revelation was that nothing is truly that simple or that easy.

Previously praised by NPR Music’s Bob Boilen for having “one of the most compelling and unusual voices I've ever heard” and "some of the best tunes I've heard in a long time,” Asaf has headlined Europe’s biggest festivals and opera houses, shared stages with Bob Dylan and Robert Plant, collaborated with Oscar-winning director Alfonso Cuaron and sold over 2 million copies of his smash hit “Reckoning Song (One Day),” which hit #1 in 14 countries. The New York Times’ Jon Pareles has compared his lyrics to Dylan and his voice to Plant, adding he “writes like Leonard Cohen and has the charisma of a cabaret performer.”

Listen to Anagnorisis’ title track here, and watch the accompanying music video directed by the legendary Wim Wenders (Paris, Texas, Buena Vista Social Club) and starring modern dance icons Bobbi Jene Smith and Or Schraiber: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JlMbB7lodnQ&feature=youtu.be

“While the artist always seeks truth, art is always a lie,” says Avidan of Anagnorisis. “It tries to impose a structure upon what inherently has a chaotic nature. This chaos, this ever-evolving nebula of feelings and thoughts and instances… all working together, all existing simultaneously… that’s life.”

With most of his regular collaborators a world away in Tel Aviv, Avidan channeled his isolation into new musical processes for the Anagnorisis sessions; every voice heard on the new album is Asaf's, from full gospel choirs to piercing falsetto to his signature androdgynous drawl. In Italy, Asaf drew fresh inspiration from old school jazz and 90s hip hop and modern pop. He looked to history as well as his own reality, drawing on King Lear and Lazarus as well as his impending 40th birthday and the end of a serious long-term relationship. Ultimately, Anagnorisis serves as the most complete and direct statement in Asaf Avidan’s illustrious career.

ANAGNORISIS TRACKLIST

Lost Horse

900 Days

Earth Odyssey 

No Words

Anagnorisis

Rock of Lazarus 

Wildfire

Indifferent Skies

Darkness Song

I See Her, Don't Be Afraid