Amit Erez - Last Night When I Tried to Sleep I Felt the Ocean with my Fingertips (2009)

Shortly after the release of the EATLITZ EP "Delicately Violent", the new solo album by AMIT EREZ will be released, singing and playing guitar with the Israeli alternative-proggerners. By the way, the long-titled "Last Night When I Tried To Sleep I Felt The Ocean With My Fingertips" has been in stores since June 2009.

Amit Erez turns to his solo work of solid singer-songwriter material. Erez's gentle voice lays fragile on warm acoustic guitars and piano arrangements. The result is no soporific campfire numbers, but multi-layered songs that require an attentive listener to bring out the dynamics of the material. Listening to "Last Night When I Tried To Sleep I Felt The Ocean With My Fingertips", you can expect beautiful dream travel numbers, cool-relaxed rhythms, spherical guitars and warm piano playing. The ten songs are carefully composed, without being constructed - if Erez in "Coming Down" about the voice breaks off briefly, then that is part of the song and will not be cut out.

Despite their calm orientation, the pieces do not sound reduced or minimalist. Every now and then a small dangling is ventured towards alternative; at "Love Again" it ends up being orchestral with lots of strings and finally the title track blares the distorted guitars with powerful drums in the background, evoking an almost apocalyptic mood. Post-singer-songwriter-core or something. Ahem.

CONCLUSION: AMIT EREZ creates with "Last Night When I Tried To Sleep I Felt The Ocean With My Fingertips" a varied, multi-layered singer-songwriter album with a calm orientation and rich instrumentation. Friends of EATLITZ, BEN FOLDS and from me also PORCUPINE TREE access here.(google)