Blackfield - Blackfield II (Remastered) (2007/2020) [Hi-Res]

Two years back and forth on the London-Tel-Aviv flight path, a mutual artistic curiosity, and a close friendship are the components that gave birth to Aviv and Steven's Blackfield project. The collaborative songs alongside songs written by each separately brought a unique meeting of cultures, which resulted in a sophisticated, melodic and melancholic rock album. Aviv and Steven spent the rest of 2005 writing new material and working on their own projects, but in early 2006 Steven moved to Israel for 6 months to enable Blackfield to work on a new album. As on the first album both songwriters composed original songs for Blackfield, but also a few of Aviv's songs previously recorded in Hebrew as a solo artist were selected and translated into English. This time the record was made in one short burst of activity (unlike the sporadic sessions for the first album that spanned 2 years). Using the now established 5 piece Blackfield band line up, the resulting album Blackfield II has a stronger sense of direction and power, and is described as "a collection of 10 perfectly crafted songs of beauty and melancholia, combining great hooks, sweeping strings, explosive guitars, and lush vocal harmonies."

Aviv Geffen, keyboards, additional guitars, vocals
Steven Wilson, guitars, additional keyboards, vocals
Daniel Salomon, piano
Seffy Efrati, bass
Tomer Z, drums, percussion
Steven Wilson, lead vocals (1, 2, 4, 5, 7, 8)
Aviv Geffen, lead vocals (3)
Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen, lead vocals (6, 9, 10)
Guest musicians:
Ofer Meiri, additional keyboards and programming on "1,000 People"
Harel Ben-Ami, electric and acoustic guitars on "1,000 People"
Itamar Leshem, french horn on "1,000 People"
Richard Barbieri, electric piano and stylophone on "Christenings"
Gavin Harrison, drums on "Christenings"
Daniela Pick, backing vocals on "Epidemic"
Eran Mitelman, electric piano on "My Gift of Silence"
String arrangements by Aviv Geffen
The Downtown Session Orchestra
Daniel Salomon, direction

Produced by Steven Wilson

Digitally remastered