Playful, imaginative, charismatic and otherworldly; all concepts that would describe the work of David Bowie to a tee, correct? Yes, but not exclusively. Such descriptions would also happily be matched to the brit-pop and prog-rock stylings of Israeli-born outfit Izakman; and would easily stretch to the group’s latest and greatest record ‘Cyber Love’.
Though the project lands on the shorter side, with 12-tracks spread across 35-minutes, there’s plenty of space for primary songwriter/frontman Itamar Izaak to weave his fine-tuned narrative of absence. This is a goal that is executed with heaps of style and wild imagination. The track’s on ‘Cyber Love’ are desperately pretty with a 70s rock background that comes garnished with helpings of reverb and infectious vocal harmonies – the scale of which being truly immense.
Dripping, too, with ambience and atmosphere – seen best on the intermezzo interludes ‘Desert Dream’ and ‘Sea Side’ that nicely segment the album into its various phases -‘Cyber Love’ takes a great deal of inspiration from the psychedelic worlds of literature from Brothers Grimm and Lewis Carol. At times the influences are as ‘on the nose’ as track’s like ‘Down The Rabbit Hole’ while others, like ‘Other Side’, emanate their own psychedelic mystique; both are executed with passion and care and are a joy to behold.
Critics will point and claim that vocalist Itamar strikes a far too familiar tone to the thin white duke himself but it should be argued that – despite artistic similarities – Izakman never goes further than wearing his influences proudly. He carries the legacy of the fallen giant but also builds on it as opposed to treading the same paths.
What you have as a result is an entirely enjoyable piece of prog-rock happily swimming in a dynamic pool of influences, some familiar and some that are rarely touched by most. Izakman, yet again, prove their own necessity within the scene with a wonderous example of required listening.
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