Beacon brothers cut their first album
The wait is over. Zohar Cabo graduated from high school in June, and now he and his older brother, Adam, are embarking on a music career, with help from influential friends.
Under the no-nonsense moniker Zohar & Adam, they recorded their first album, Osmosis, at The Loft Recording Studios in Bronxville, owned by Philipstown resident Al Hemberger, who has worked with Rihanna, Britney Spears and Kelly Clarkson.
"He gave us the keys to the place and a room to figure it out," says Adam, 21. "We learned how to engineer, produce and mix. Two-and-a-half years later, it's ready."
Another advisor is bass player Christian McBride, who appears on the album and met the brothers at his Jazz House Kids educational ensembles in Montclair, New Jersey, and Trinity Church in Manhattan.
As they hang around Beacon and take on a long-term view, the duo's management team (which discovered Rihanna) and record label (Mack Avenue Music Group) are strategizing the act's trajectory.
Osmosis is scheduled for release in March, and a tour is likely to follow. For now, they're hosting an improvised Everything Jam at Beacon's Savage Wonder twice a month, beginning Sunday (Oct. 19).
The disc's title is apt because the brothers have played together since grade school. Marketing copy describes their interplay as "telepathic synchronicity." Improvisation and free-form exploration fuel their genre-busting, unbound sound, which is rooted in jazz but meanders. On keyboards, Zohar, 18, drives the bus as Adam lays down the percolating percussion.
"A lot of people are skeptical that we can be sonically interesting with two instruments, but so far, so good," says Adam. "If anything, we call it 'post-jazz.' "
Zohar plays bass parts with his left hand and coaxes ethereal sounds from his electronic keyboard. Sometimes he twiddles the dials more than he presses the keys. There is some singing on the new album, but their bread and butter consists of experimental instrumental compositions that stretch boundaries while remaining accessible.
One signature approach is to accentuate the ebb and flow between spacey interludes and parts with a solid groove where Adam hits hard. Segues are seamless as they shift the dynamics and tempos - often several times per tune.
"The fat part means so much more when we do that tension and release," says Adam. In the video of "Drones in the Sky/Dying Hands," an audition tape for National Public Radio's Tiny Desk series filmed at the Howland Cultural Center in Beacon, "we keep pulling back and letting go; it's not completely settled, yet it keeps people listening because they have no idea what's going to happen next."
After being offered a scholarship to study acting at SUNY Purchase, Adam decided to take the drumming tack, which follows the family pattern: Father Richard led a Latin jazz band, mother Dassi Rosenkrantz plays bass (and will perform Oct. 11 at Beacon Flow) and sister Noga, 23, is a singer-songwriter.
Growing up, the siblings played covers and originals all over town and recorded with Hemberger. While waiting for their future, Zohar & Adam can pop up on the streets of Beacon anytime and anywhere, including a recent impromptu jam behind the Mobil gas station on Main Street.
The Everything Jam traces to last summer, when the brothers winged it for hours busking in the former open space at the corner of Main and Cross streets.
"Everyone from babies to elderly people would turn their heads," says Adam. "Not to be too ambitious, but we're trying to foster a newfound appreciation for instrumental music."
They hosted the free-form jam at Lyonshare and, one night, 85 people showed up. "Despite all the crazy changes in our songs, part of our approach is to provide an entry point to make improvisational instrumental music that anyone can enjoy and create a sound that is universally understood," he says.
Savage Wonder is located at 139 Main St. in Beacon. For more on Zohar & Adam, including digital d...
