Something new from something old
Although raised in Tel Aviv, Malka Spigel’s work knows no cultural bounds. Having made music and created a following throughout continental Europe, Spigel maintains a free spirit as well as a sense of allure. We have not seen a full-length project from Spigel since her Every Day Is Like the First Day album in 2012. Since then, she released her Gliding EP in 2014. Her new project, Gliding & Hiding, serves as a double EP – showing off her reworked version of Gliding and her 1997 “mini-album” Hide.
The seven-minute opening song “Strumgliding” serves as a dreamy and soothing introduction to the project. The shoegaze-inspired instrumentation pairs nicely with the lush production that feels like a comforting wall of sound. The repeated lyric “Strumgliding” begins to feel like a meditational chant, endowing the listener with peacefulness and serenity.
Her more lyrically dense second track, “Hacol Zaram Beyachad” is a reworking of her 1996 from her debut album Rosh Ballata. Despite the lyrics of the song being in Hebrew, the style of the album clearly values sonic aesthetic over the singing.
The first four songs of the album are heavily influenced by the shoegaze movement in the mid-’90s. “Tall Grey Buildings” feels directly inspired by the likes of Loveless by My Bloody Valentine or Souvlaki by Slowdive, both of which came out years prior to her first album.
The fifth and sixth songs on the project are a stark contrast to the tranquil soft rock that made up the first half. “Hide” is a rigid, beat-driven track that feels colder and constricted. The repeated words “you don’t have to hide,” hand themselves to an air of discomfort. This continues into the similarly structured track “I Just Want” which was also taken and consequently reworked from her 1997 project Hide.
The last two tracks “Besof Hayom” and “Returning Wheel” end the project in the same style that it started. The melody of “Returning Wheel” is dark and hypnotic, with hazy vocals that fade into the background. Thick layers of guitar and drums, coupled with another layer of sustained synths characterize the instrumentation of the final track. Plucky electric guitar notes and minor chords trail off into silence, closing the album.
Spigel demonstrated through this project that music is a true form of art, with the ability to improve upon past projects. After reworking several songs from projects that she released over twenty-five years ago, Spigel was able to create a mostly cohesive album. The blissfully peaceful tracks serve as both a reminder of her past works, but also show the unlimited ways an artist can create something new.
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