Dismantling DreamsAlonyDismantling Dreams00:06:19
Lights On/OffAlonyDismantling Dreams00:05:21
And The I Think of YouAlonyDismantling Dreams00:06:16
Song of SpringAlonyDismantling Dreams00:05:06
Hear MeAlonyDismantling Dreams00:05:21
Ad MatayAlonyDismantling Dreams00:05:18
Alony – Dismantling Dreams
Alony´s music is a world of atmosphere and secret, spinning around along the edges of jazz, swelling with string quartet and organ sounds, touched by rock and electronic influences.
Efrat Alony’s songs have been praised by the press for years. Some call them “popular art songs, highly expressive,” others speak of “pop songs that mysteriously come out of jazz ” or “a chamber-jazz parallel world.” Austrian Jazzzeit wrote: “Singer Efrat Alony does not only have an interesting voice but she is also a composer and lyricist who has created her own language, through-which she delivers her strong massage.” The Bavarian Radio comments: “She is a musician of a unique refinement. She loves the melting of sound-elements rooted in jazz, rock and electronic music, and using her poetic lyrics and her warm dark alto voice she turns it into a very individual and personal statement.”
Produced by her long-time musical partner, pianist Mark Reinke, in a co-production with the Bayerischer Rundfunk (Bavarian Radio), “Dismantling Dreams” is Efrat’s fourth album with her band project Alony. Now reduced to a trio (plus a string quartet), the band mixes acoustic and electronic elements into original sound designs that are strongly and deliberately influenced by current pop music concepts. Embedded in these adventurous soundscapes, Efrat’s fascinating voice gains a new, fundamental clarity and an emotional depth never reached before. This unique form of singer-art-songwriting manages to seamlessly cross musical borders. “The compositions are formed like collages of feelings,” says Efrat, “like little films for the ear.”
“Dismantling Dreams” is a further proof of an uninhibited, bewildering talent.
Efrat Alony – vocals
Mark Reinke – piano, keys, electronics, melodica
Christian Thomé – drums, electronics, glockenspiel
Efrat Alony
Efrat Alony
Trying to put Efrat Alony’s music in a box is a task destined to fail. Every musical compartment would simply be too small. Her ability to compose and sing in- between the musical genres, in a her exceptional unique style, is what makes her stand out and shine.
"Untamable. The Israeli singer Efrat Alony bewilders with her voice, beauty and intellect. (…) Her timbre seduces us - to unstintingly listen." Tom R. Schulz , "Die Zeit"
"I'm not sure that there is a category for what Alony does. I'm not sure that there should be. Call it music." Doug Ramsey, "Artsjournal"
"….The music hits you with full force. Efrat Alony, with her dazzling versatile singing, enriches scat singing with sighs and lamentations and shows that Hebrew can both comfort and glow, like a candle…" Josef Engels, "Berliner Morgenpost"
"Her voice is a lusty cross between Joni Mitchell's folk wisdom and Amy Winehouse's rolling purr. Alony's voice is highly trained, but what's most fascinating is her original music and lyrics. The style isn't quite jazz but something new and cutting edge... While I confess you may need to recalibrate your sensibility a bit to fully appreciate what Alony is doing, the journey is well worth it." Marc Meyers, JazzWax.com
"…Efrat Alony completely is at home in her music. She commands her extraordinarily cultured alto voice with confidence… she sends shivers down your spine. …Alony treads exciting new paths. Her daring experiments are both refreshing and intense. The compositions – at times peaceful, at times stormy – are even more vivacious in a live performance than on her wonderful debut album merry-go-round"…
Birgit Nüchterlein, "Nürnberger Nachrichten"
"I love challenges“ she explains, "I enjoy trying to find a boundery, where one thinks one can`t push it any further, and then- do just that- try to jump over it. Every time anew, I’m startled, as to how flexible our minds, our ears, our abilities as performers and our ever changing perception of music really is"
Born in Haifa, Israel, as a daughter of Jewish Iraqi new comers, singer Efrat Alony studied composition, arranging, jazz singing and classical singing in Israel, Germany and the U.S. Efrat was a featured as a soloist with many Big-Bands such as the Sunday Night Orchestra (CD “Overcast”, 2008), the Jazz Orchestra of the Concertgebouw (Amsterdam), the Radio Big Band Frankfurt, the Zurich Jazz Orchestra as well as the Ed Partyka Jazz Orchestra ( CD „Songs for love lost“, 2011)
Efrat has worked as a musical director and vocal coach for various theater productions, such with the renowned American director Robert Wilson. In 2006 she was awarded the Jazz Performance Prize of the Karl Hofer Society and the Jazz Institute Berlin. in 2008 and in 2010 she received the City of Berlin Jazz Award. In 2009 Alony recieved the „Nürnberg Nachrichten International Jazz award“ and in 2010 she was nominated for the BMW world Jazz award. In 2014 Efrat recieved the "german music author's prize"of the GEMA for Jazz composition.
Since 2009 Efrat Alony is a Professor for Jazz Singing at the HKB College of the arts in Bern, Switzerland.
Mark Reinke
Mark Reinke
Born in Düsseldorf in 1976, Mark Reinke studied Jazz piano in Arnheim, Netherlands, at the “Hanns Eisler” college of music in Berlin and at Berklee college of Music, Boston with Rob van den Broek, Aki Takase, Steve Gray and Richie Beirach.
Aside of being the co-leader of Alony he has worked amongst others with Katja Riemann, Sonja Kandels, Hermano Lobo, Tilman Ehrhorn and Johannes Haage. He has participated in various theatre productions as a pianist and musical director, such as the play “saints and singing”, directed by the famous American director Robert Wilson, that toured all over Europe.
He also works as a sound designer for the music software company Ableton.
Mark has been influenced by very different musical styles, such as Jazz, minimal music, African music or alternative Rock and musicians such as Django Bates, Steve Reich, Radiohead or June Tabor.
Mark Reinke uses Nord keyboards and Ableton Live.
Christian Thomé
Christian Thomé
Christian Thomé began playing drums at age 14, he had been studying the clarinet and piano from up age 6. Born in 1970, he grew up in Düsseldorf, Germany, playing music ranging from pop, rock and fusion to swing. In 1991 he went to Arnhem, The Netherlands, to attend the Arnhem Institut for the Arts, where he studied with Joop van Erven and René Creemers. During this time he let his own bands and consolidated his skills in composing and arranging. In 1997 he moved to Cologne, Germany, and has since become one of the most in demand drummers in germany's jazz/new music scene today.
In addition to co-leading and composing for the groups Lühning and Arnie Bolden, Christian records and tours extensively with diverse groups including Sebastian Gramss' Mad Michel, Efrat Alony, Trio Stockhausen/Comisso/Thomé, Thomas Heberer Trio, Nanoschlaf, Jürgen Friedrich's bits and pieces and the worldmusic band "Schäl Sick Brass Band".
Christian is currently recording with his electronic trio Radio Köber, his latest cd "hauptstrom" and debut album as a leader with his septet Tomatic 7 is available on JHM Recordings. He also performed with musicians, including Lee Konitz, Peter Kowald, Evan Parker, Michael Moore, Dhafer Youssef, Michel Godard, Rainer Winterschladen, Ike Willis, John Goldsby, Markus Stockhausen, Claudio Puntin, Guillaume Orti, Till Brönner, Dieter Manderscheid, Frank Chastenier, Hans Lüdemann, Henning Sieverts, Achim Kaufmann, Sebastian Hess, Hartmut Kracht, Céline Rudolph, Michiel Braam, Wilbert de Joode, Jorrit Dijkstra, Oene van Geel, Peter Fessler, Moritz Eggert, Sebastian Gramss, Nils Wogram, Matthias Schubert, Rudi Mahall.