Yoav - A Foolproof Escape Plan

Only half way through the year and already I have at least 3 of my favourite albums for 2010 with LCD Soundsystem's alleged swan song and Janelle Monae's latest eclectic offering making up 2 parts of this triptych. Okay, okay Broken Bells self titled EP is in there as well but it didn't look as neat in my head. Needless to say its been a surprisingly strong year for music from the leftfield - specifically for those artists with a neat melody or a haunting synth line. 

Which is where Tel Avivan (Viva Gaza?) Yoav comes under the radar with his choral melodies from the back of the throat and pride in highlighting influences. Striking a balance between high noon and an orientalist's vision of sleepy midday Tel Aviv this record keeps on coming back to suspended moments of time and tension. There are moments when a wail almost makes its way out his throat just to be restrained by a sawing guitar or a far off call to prayer. 

The opener 'Greed' is possibly the most obvious song in the album and at points sounds like David Gray with a bassy, ominous rumble behind it. This is possibly the least interesting song on the album but very well crafted. 'Moonbike' is where that taut sound begins to establish itself and a wide variety of dischordant counterpoints all highlight how silky Yoav Sadan's voice can get. The hollow interior sound of his style sounds like voices inside of his head that the listener is peeking into, a voyeuristic and overwhelming journey that turns the passive listener into someone who wishes to second guess the direction of his music. The obsessed 'Yellowbrite smile' plays with the genre staple of quiet, loud, quiet, loud and emerges not exhilarated but more anxious to remove the homogenous emotions it protests against in a huge splurge unreciprocated emotion. 

'Spidersong' is heat haze off a road, shimmering and obscuring the obvious instrumental heights whilst also letting them occasionally waft transcendentally over the rest of the chorus. The delicate pluckings that precede these 10 seconds of opiate bliss are perfect den-fellows for the brooding cello lurking behind the treble. 

What this album is in 5 statements;

Intense as first love.

Brooding and unsettling.

An uncomfortable statement of a mind caught between dream and reality.

A drum skin tight series of arrangements and tension that posits relaxation as a temporary solution.

Very lonely.

A fantastic album and one that probably deserves a little more exposure.