Israeli born, London based singer-songwriter Irit released her debut album Hello in March this year, and she'll pull tracks from that when she plays The Stables in Wavendon on Wednesday (June 13).
Irit’s life has been somewhat idiosyncratic. Her journey led her to become a soldier and a sniper, a stage actress in Israel’s most prestigious theatre group, a TV talk show host, a documentary maker and comedienne, amongst a host of other things.
Ever present throughout this winding road, was a passion for making music and singing.
Irit’s breakthrough into music was with Last Of Songs, the electronic covers band she formed in Tel Aviv.
Playing with them gave her a wealth of experience, she never felt that her personality was truly reflected in the music.
For a long time, she was fighting an internal battle, trying to make the decision of whether or not to stay in a band that was constraining her creativity: ‘I felt as if I were wearing a pair of tights that were far too small for me, and everything was just broken inside. But I was walking normally and smiling so no one could tell, pretending it was all perfectly fine.’
As she started writing her own songs, she found herself gravitating toward a more organic sound, drawing inspiration from the elaborate Middle Eastern scales and rhythms she had heard growing up.
It was then that the life experiences that shaped her as a person spilt unrestrained onto the page. From religion, experiencing awful sexism in the theatre industry and relationships that had not gone according to plan, Irit felt like she was writing episodes in her own personal soap opera.
Aside from her own experiences, Irit found catharsis in writing fiction. Her music, much like the theatre, allowed her to wear masks and become a character, “Music is theatre, and it’s cinematic.” An acerbic injection of Irit’s personality has left many of the songs filled with a hefty dose of satire, cheek and light-hearted cynicism. She’s someone whose dark humour will make you laugh and cry in the same breath.
An intuitive relationship formed with producer Benjamin Clementine, and Jonathan and Irit successfully created the perfect arrangements for the beguiling ideas Irit was forming.
Musically, Irit’s inspirations range from Bjork to Kate Bush, but the playful sound she developed with Jonathan could uniquely be described as something like the Latin jazz of Astrud Gilberto possessed by the soul of PJ Harvey.
Her writing style with Jonathan is akin to the Michael Jackson – Quincy Jones relationship; Irit sings the melody and Jonathan complements her vocals with his masterful production.
To book tickets for The Stables date click here
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