BASSIST YOSEF GUTMAN LEVITT AND PROLIFIC MULTI-INSTRUMENTALIST PETER BRODERICK DISCOVER A DEEP MUSICAL CONNECTION ON THEIR NEW COLLABORATIVE RELEASE RIVER OF EDEN
Released November 2024
Yosef Gutman Levitt, double bass & five-string acoustic bass, compositions
Peter Broderick, violin/effects, compositions
Yonathan Avishai, piano
Itay Sher, nylon-string guitar
Yoed Nir, cello
Available on Soul Song Records
Single Release (“Gratitude”): October 18, 2024
Street Week Focus Track (“Renewal”) Album Release: November 8, 2024
New Levitt collaborations in the Soul Song pipeline with
Yonathan Avishai, Yagel Harush, Didi Elinson, more
“Reflective and possessing an exceptional clarity of feeling,
Levitt’s music settles the soul.”
— Mel Minter, Musically Speaking
Following up his searching and memorable collaborations with guitar masters Lionel Loueke (Soul Song), Gilad Hekselman (Why Ten?) and Itay Sher (Unity), Jerusalem-based Yosef Gutman Levitt and Soul Song Records are pleased to share River of Eden, a luminous collection of songs featuring the unclassifiable singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Peter Broderick.
A bassist rooted in the world of jazz and improvisation, Levitt approached Broderick with the idea of a collaboration in tune with the Soul Song label’s mission: “The goal is to create music, and to create a label that stimulates others to do the same—to make their soul song. To create music that’s intimate, improvisational, with a profound honesty, stripping away anything that’s not needed. What’s important is that the music is inspired by something higher. I want to work with artists who are interested in getting to that place.”
Broderick, of Portland, Oregon, currently based in Ireland, was receptive to that message, and traveled to Jerusalem to record River of Eden in Gutman’s studio, with seasoned and versatile musicians Yonathan Avishai (piano), Itay Sher (nylon-string guitar) and Yoed Nir (cello).
Formerly a member of the Danish art-rock ensemble Efterklang, Broderick is a singer, songwriter, pianist and violinist with a wide-ranging catalog on Hush Records, Erased Tapes, Bella Union and other labels, making music that is “simultaneously urgent and fragile, close but elusive,” according to The Quietus. His recent Erased Tapes output ranges from the minimalist classicism of Piano Works Vol. 1 and immersive, ambient sonorities of Floating 2013 and The Wind that Shakes the Bramble to the alt-folk indie songcraft of Blackberry and Partners, or the chamber-brass warmth of “Give it to the Sky,” his 2023 collaboration with the French new music trailblazers Ensemble 0.
Broderick plays violin, his first instrument, exclusively on River of Eden, at times expanding the sonic horizons with loops, effects and other processing. What emerges is an intimate and contemplative space for acoustic instruments, including Levitt’s five-string bass guitar by luthier Harvey Citron, all meeting in elevated musical conversation.
“I was thrilled that Peter came to Jerusalem and was completely present for these sessions,” Levitt remarks. “It was an intense and wonderful experience. Peter is a real mensch, such an easygoing and intelligent musician.”
“Yosef’s music really struck me when I heard it,” recounts Broderick. “I was really impressed with the musicianship, but also by how gentle, pure and heartfelt it sounded. At times it almost caught me off guard, how direct and emotive it was, with simple melodies and accompaniments but always with enough depth to feel genuine. It impacted me quite a lot.”
Delving into sheet music that Levitt provided in advance, Broderick made a daily practice of playing through the material and building a personal connection to it. Inspiration flowed, and Broderick in turn came up with “Cinnamon Swirl,” a melody he heard in a dream, akin to a Danish fiddle tune (he once lived in Denmark). Broderick also wrote “The Old City” after a solo jaunt around Jerusalem during a break in recording.
Levitt, in partnership with multireedist, arranger and coproducer Gilad Ronen, crafted the melodies that became “Gratitude,” “Revolution” and “Renewal,” as well as the arrangements of three nigunim, or traditional Jewish vocal melodies without words. Three pieces, “The Open Door,” “Resilience” and “Wave of Forgiveness,” were culled from longer improvisations and sculpted into discrete pieces of music. “Reflection” is the sonic outlier, an impromptu duo captured on a cassette recorder during the River of Eden photoshoot. “I listened through those tapes,” Broderick recalls, “and sure enough, there was this two-minute segment that I found really moving, something I instantly remembered from the shoot that day, and the feeling in the room.”
The title River of Eden refers to the “inner notes of Torah,” the idea that “melody notes when properly oriented can transport the (de)lights of Eden into this world,” explains Levitt. “Peter and I shared a moment contemplating this the day after he arrived in Jerusalem, and when we returned home for a Shabbat meal, Peter was an indispensable and exciting part of the experience for my family and the kids, adding ‘melody’ to a light-filled Shabbat in Nachlaot. I felt like I learned a lot on that Shabbat!”
“I have a belief in music as this ultra-powerful thing with the potential to transcend the biggest crises and conflicts that we have as humans,” Broderick says in sum. “It was a real honor to go to Jerusalem with the intention of creating harmony, and beauty.”
Yosef Gutman Levitt, a religiously observant Jew, has endowed all his music with a sense of spiritual searching and depth, whether he is interpreting nigunim on such early releases as Ashreinu and Chabad Al Hazman or exploring original music in a more jazz-oriented setting on The World and Its People and Upside Down Mountain. New Levitt collaborations are forthcoming with Yonathan Avishai, kamancheh and ney flute player Yagel Haroush, pianist Didi Elinson and more.