Gilad Hekselman Guitars, Keys, Bass

Eric Harland Drums (track 1, 2, 3, 5, 6)

Shai Maestro Co-production, Keys (track 2)

Nathan Schram Viola, Violin (track 4)

Oren Hardy Bass (track 4)

Alon Benjamini Drums, Percussion (track 4)

Nomok Co-production, Keys (track 7)

Amir Bresler Co-production, Drums, Percussion (track 7)

Ziv Ravitz Drums (track 8)

Far Star is the new album from Israeli-born and New York based guitarist Gilad Hekselman – a work that explores a new universe rich in colour, limitless in detail and bold in vision. Based for more than 18 years in New York, Gilad has become a well known figure in that highly creative scene, building a unique sound that is both progressive and timeless. With a new approach to music making that has as much to do with the enforced constraints of the pandemic as with any artistic decision, Gilad has produced something that is simply breathtaking. The music has a boldness and simplicity, it’s progressive yet accessible; ultimately it’s a modern and adventurous album with an abundance of detail that offers reward after reward at every listen. From the opening infectious whistle you know you’re going to be taken on a journey of discovery. It connects on all fronts, emotionally and intellectually, ebbing and flowing into wide-view cinematic and progressive Jazz goodness. It is, without question, a remarkable album from a remarkable artist.

Exploring a new universe, both in sound and approach, Far Star is an album with a duality: progressive yet accessible. It’s a produced studio album and built from layers, yet there’s a searching quality that still gives the musicians a place for deep expression. For Gilad, the thread that binds all his music making is finding a balance between something for the listener to hold on to and something more progressive, a marriage of unpredictability with hooky, immediate connection. Far Star fully epitomizes this mantra. It’s also an album that originated almost by accident as Gilad explains:

“At the start of 2020, I returned from 3 months with my family in Southeast Asia with piles of new music ready to be played with real people. Then the pandemic hit, and suddenly all I was left with for making this music come to life were my instruments, mics and computer. Like everyone else, I didn’t know how long this was going to last, so I started a folder on my computer called ‘Song Demos’ with every hope that I would soon be sending the tracks to my band when it came time to make a new record. Weeks turned into months: I watched hundreds of tutorials, took sound engineering lessons and consulted with my producer friends. After thousands of hours of work, I finished what I called Far Star”.

The adaptation of process, and the artistic response to this, caused by the pandemic resulted in a different, more adventurous sound than appeared in Gilad’s previous albums. It was this ability to go deeper into the detail of the music, to explore new ways of communicating and building the music that opened up more possibilities; “Far Star is about my ability to travel with my imagination to far sonic galaxies, all from the insides of a room. The music, worked on during a pandemic, somehow leaves me with memories of great freedom and liberation through what was clearly a very constricting time in our lives.”

Read more about Gilad Hekselman