Blue Fringe

Blue Fringe’s wildly successful debut album, My Awakening, threw the Jewish music world for a loop, selling over 15,000 copies in two years. That’s no small achievement for any indie rock band, and in the Jewish music world, 5,000 copies is often considered a gold record. The popularity of the music shot the foursome into the role of “Hot New Thing”—and it wasn’t just hype. There was real talent on the power pop-soaked My Awakening, even if its John Mayer influence sometimes slipped into something akin to the Rembrandts in Hebrew.

Songwriter, guitarist and lead vocalist Dov Rosenblatt met his band mates in Israel the summer before starting Yeshiva University. The group quickly found a niche in Modern Orthodox circles with the tongue-in-cheek “Flippin’ Out,” describing the process by which Jewish high school graduates go to Israel for a year and undergo a dramatic religious transformation. “I’m getting frummer, yeah I’m on my way, learnin’ those catch phrases that you have to say, like Shkoyach and M’Stama too, cuz’ if you don’t say them then you’re not a frum Jew…I’m flippin’ out/my rebbe’s sheppin nachas/ I’m flippin’ out/My parent’s will kick my tuchas…”

An eager world of young observant Jews immediately identified with the song, and young seminary girls went nuts over the band’s good looks and Rosenblatt’s silky vocals. Tour dates brought the band to every major U.S. market, plus Australia, South Africa and a few dates in Europe. In Israel, their tour included a performance in Beit Shemesh for a festival audience of 10,000.

With their follow up, 70 Faces, Blue Fringe shows a maturation and willingness to experiment with new formats and arrangements. They avoid the trap of making their second album a facsimile of the first and draw on their musical influences and creativity for a distinct, yet familiar, sound. 70 Faces refers to the Talmudic concept of Shivim Panim laTorah, or the 70 ways to interpret the Torah. Its selection as the album’s title track is a sly hint that the band is no longer sticking to a singular pop-rock sound, but embracing funk, blues, jazz and an ever more diverse range of rock influences.

Several songs, like “Generations,” “Lo Irah” and “Modim,” continue to bow to the John Mayer, Chris Martin and Dave Matthews power pop genre, but a departure is also made into grittier territory. Subtly nodding to a Steely Dan-like appreciation for jazz session players, Blue Fringe stacks up horn arrangements that call on the spirits of Jimmy Pankow (Chicago), Earth Wind and Fire and the Tower of Power. This is especially so in the title track, “Mayim,” and a bluesy version of the “Shidduch Song.” On a first listen, the mix of styles seems an odd choice, but taken as a whole the mingling of styles creates a potent brew.

Rosenblatt’s lead vocals are better than ever—light but wry and sprinkled with a snarkiness that’s apropos for his ironic generation. His vocals still tend to emulate the breathy, punctuated rhythms of John Mayer, and love it or hate it, the latter’s influence remains evident in the band’s arrangements and overall sound.

The first song on the album is the guitar-laden, pro-Israel “Lo Irah (No Fear),” either an ode to the orange-shirted friends of Gush Katif, or a broader anthem about the Jewish people facing adversity in their homeland. I suspect the latter, but it leads off the album with a power pop sound that’s a rush to the head and heart.

On track two, “Av Harachamim,” things slow down and get darker. This is sonically the most expressive song on the album, beginning with a spare and delicate interplay between vocals and guitar and then building into an unrestrained brooding storm of slow, lush, power-chord progression and distortion.

Those who know the band knew that the “Shidduch Song” would be this album’s “Flippin’ Out,” but it’s not a gimmick. They’ve been playing the song live for years and it’s a favorite in the yeshiva crowd for its satirical take on the pressures of dating and marriage. In a slightly naughty way, the song nods to the shomer negiah (no touching before marriage) set and the recent rightward turn of the frum community.

Of a similar, albeit more aggressive sound is an arrangement of “Shir HaShirim,” the Song of Songs, a text rich with allusions to physical love. Of course, the poem is traditionally interpreted as an allegory of the kinship between God and the Jewish people, but here the funky chorus of “Ani l’Dodi v’Dodi Li” speaks more to the former. Whatever your interpretation, it’s one of the best songs on the album. Overall the tone of this album is slightly darker than the first. Paired with the horns, 70 Faces achieves a slightly richer, meatier sound. Strong pop elements still break the surface, but having played together for four years, the band’s maturity and influences are showing through.

It’s a change of musical direction for the band, but one that will age well with their fan base and appeal to a more discerning audience. Much of Jewish music is derivative, even within Jewish rock, so it’s encouraging that a band like Blue Fringe would actively explore new sounds and not rely on the tried and true.

In this respect, 70 Faces is an aptly named album, showing us that Blue Fringe embraces all its influences at once and can’t be as easily pigeonholed as we’d like. 70 Faces’ resulting complexity makes for a gratifying listening experience that shows Blue Fringe is still on top of its game.

Original published by World Jewish Digest, Issue Date: September 2005.