Anat Damon

Anat Damon's music is charming and slightly reminiscent of a more electronically inclined Cat Power. She has apparently started making music fairly recently, but she seems assured in her art. She is a psychologist and has worked as rock band's manager, so she has an interesting background.

"For you" is a gently spinning song with a light electronic backdrop framing Damon's sweet vocals.

"Falling" is a remarkable song. It's as restrained as the rest of the album, and just as magical.

The aptly named "Magic" is a sweet tune with a faint psychedelic undertow.

"Show me the Pain" is a magical mystery tour of a song. Damon's love of the Beatles comes through, filtered in her own language.

"Naughty" is a poppy, fun song.

This album is lovely and its sophisticated sound shows Damon has come a long way for first timer.

Posted on June 9, 2004

- Anna Maria Stjärnell

Anat Damon - "Falling"

With a mature writing and polished production, Anat Damon reminds us that you can do it at any age.

Forty years old, running her own business for research consulting, Master in Organizational Psychology and mother to a two-and-half year old daughter, Anat Damon publishes her debut album in English. The former manager of RockFour, the popular English- singing band, is releasing a late debut album almost at the same time and yet manages to stand the comparison completely unharmed: The first of Damon is 43 minutes of musical maturity and magic, of a quality rarely found in an initial work. Damon writes and plays her songs following in the footsteps of the best women singers-songwriters, from Joni Mitchell via Suzanne Vega up to Aimee Mann, mostly based on somewhat screeching acoustical guitars, sometimes in conjunction with melodic Beatles’ harmonies. There is nothing new or earth shattering in Damon’s approach to song- making; she does walk a road well traveled, but with this collection of 12 songs she reminds anyone who dared to forget that beautiful songs are unbeatable. And she has many such songs. Damon turns out to be a precise composer and performer, with many personal, candid songs that are never boring, do not mess with over sophistication and mostly do not fall into the exhibitionist whining traps, so well-known with the young singer-songwriters around here. Here is another good reason for selecting English that comes off not bad at all from Damon, while still smelling of “Sabres” in the nuances. Oddly enough, this difficulty and the slight sense of distance of the performance contribute to a final result which is clean and devoid of mannerisms. But with all due to respect to Damon, we have to give some credit to Ran Shem-Tov, the lead singer of Izabo by day and a rising star musical producer by night. The man behind the mixer did here a clever combination of 60s psychedelic elements with current trip-hop rhythms, that more than once frees the songs from the pitfall of predictability, while still not imposing any tedious, burdensome contemporary appearance. When this almost does happen, from time to time, Shem-Tov knows precisely the right moment to lean back and take the song apart to its basic ingredients. In “Show me the Pain”, one of the most powerful moments of the album, this ability is profoundly demonstrated, when during the last twenty seconds it simply sheds off all the layers of arrangement and turns from a slow and hypnotizing song to an energetic, happy sequence using acoustic guitar. Shem-Tov’s production greatest asset is recognizing Damon’s song qualities; these qualities enable them to function in two states: as mood-rich soundtrack for a rainy night and as smiling spring-time reflections.

A word on the graphic design: lovely.
- Ofer Seker, March 5th 2004

Falling is an impressive debut album, particularly for a singer/songwriter who didn't even start guitar lessons or writing songs until she was almost thirty. Most debuts are derivative of or at least readily comparable to bigger names, but it's hard to place Damon next to any convenient benchmarks. The confident layered production and mix of pop smarts with artiness recalls Kate Bush in sensibility, perhaps, though Damon's voice doesn't sound at all like Bush's, and her material is less pretentious. While the songs tend toward the gently melodic side and the lyrics toward the give-and-take struggles of romantic and sexual relationships, there's an uneasy kick to the way they're spun, perhaps influenced by her own extensive academic work in psychology. Her voice has an appealing shy sultriness, and while her foreign accent is noticeable, actually it sounds kind of cool, without impeding the vocal clarity. Her stance is one of offering intimacy that's both inviting and unsettling, the lyrics of "Naughty" in particular hinting at the dark side of attraction, plaintively asking "why is it hard to see the worst in me?" as if that's exactly what she wants to show off. Leaving aside the interpersonal dynamics of the compositions, on a sheer sonic level the production is quite pleasurable, gracefully blending in touches of orchestration, psychedelia, slide guitar, and quite late-'60s Beatles-ish strings. Some of the fresher indie rock of the early 2000s came from Israel, and this is an honorable entry into that field, yet more admirable in that (unlike some of the other better Israeli indie rock of the period) it doesn't lean heavily on retro- psychedelia or 1960s-indebted approaches.

Posted November 2004 - Richie Unterberger - AMG

ANAT DAMON – FALLING

The title track almost brought tears to my eyes. The 40 years old Anat Damon named her debut album “Falling”, a bone-crushing album, emotional breakdown, this is the moment to sober up, now is the time to start living your life. The painful contrasts in Damon’s personality, exposed and hiding, wounded and biting, simple and weighty, made their way, not surprisingly, to the musical envelope of Ran Shem-Tov. At times she is a Cabaret, piercing Country flares. Sometimes she is an intimate singer, playing to herself and singing in a small room. Trying to touch, pop-like and sweet, at the soft skin. Grazing and kicking, upbeat dance, the grand ballroom.  Shaking, psychedelic, the shouting heart, which finds expression only in English, precisely, in English. Not in clear Hebrew, which is less playable. Because Damon is misleading. Bewitching in contradictions. Elusive and multi-faceted. Her Album needs to be peeled slowly. It is bursting with emotions, it slams us with memories, it is full of yearnings for all those years that went by in a flash. It is very personal. And yet, Shem-Tov painted it in many colors. I am not sure that the complex sound does always justice to Damon’s work (who prefers, as far as she is concerned, to remain distant, veiled, mysterious) and once in a while you have to wonder just how much he enforced his well-known musical concept, from Izabo to Dikla. But Damon’s first album is much more than this. It will seep under your skin. It puts cheek next to cheek. It is a good night kiss. It is a masterpiece, no less, storing in 12 tracks, almost 44 minutes, an entire life. Do not miss it. - Avishai Matya, February 27th 2004

Anat’s maturity is very evident,and although it is familiar singer/songwriter territory, this is a woman, not a girl, and a guitar. Falling is the perfect title to this album, you feel you are falling into Anat’s dreamy, pleasently accented voice (she is from Israel, lending her voice an exotic intonation). All tracks are wistful and soft, but with surprising twists. There is not a hint of harshness in any of the album, and while its beauty lies in this, it is also a disadvantage. This album will not jolt you out of your seat, but it will accompany you on a pleasant daytime reverie. - Princess D, ZKSU, Stanford CA

Anat Damon - Falling

… Not less bewitching is Damon’s debut album, 40 years old, who, to begin with, got acquainted with the musical scene from its managerial side (“RockFour”). The album, under the baton of Ran Shem-Tov, one of the rising powers in musical production, is a refreshing and complex piece of music – based on Damon’s beautiful voice and quiet nighttime songs with touching arrangements. Damon reveals in her 12 songs a captivating inner world, worth to dive into. She certainly joins a long and growing list of Israeli singers who sing in English – and can do so without any inferiority feelings. The album songs are already relatively successful on the radio, with airplay on 88FM - and if Damon succeeds in making more albums of this caliber – the Israeli music will have gained a wonderful creative artist. - Geva Kra-Oz, March 16th 2004

"A truly original and bewitching brew of alternative techno pop folk rock"

This first review of 2007 is devoted to an intriguing new voice I had not heard before. A friend of mine from Israel gave me a couple CDs and this one really stood out. The singer is an Israeli singer-songwriter who writes in English and sings with a slight but pleasantly exotic sounding accent that only adds to the power of her music. While her roots might lay in acoustic music, she is clearly not a folk singer, nor is this anything other than a rock CD. But the sound is an almost mystical blend of familiar and unfamiliar influences. Immediately I heard a bit of Chrissie Hynde in her voice, but her lyrics are entirely different, very poetic but provacative, especially when she is singing about relationships. There is also a distinct spirituality noticable on some of the softer songs. Her upbeat numbers sound really radio friendly but not at all generic. Damon's influences are never that obvious as she has created her own unique style that seems to borrow equally from 80's techno pop, Aimee Mann and the Pretenders as well as folk, jazz and certain distinctly Israeli influences. Her songs run the gamut from acoustic ballads to highly produced numbers that really rock and want you to get up out of your chair and dance. The favorite cuts are:

1) Naughty- What an amazing and catchy tune!! This one has been in my head for three days now. It must get some airplay! There is so much going on in this song, that it could take three paragraphs to write about. I'll try to boil it down a bit shorter to explain what makes this song great: First-Damon's voice--It pulls you in slyly and refuses to let you go/Second-Damon's lyrics, absolutely strange but totally believable emotional pull between the narrator and someone who is being sucked into an unhealthy but tempting relationship with her, yet it's fun/Third-The melody-unforgetteable yet complex/Fourth-that wild bass playing up the fret and taking the lead for just an instant every time around near the hook/Fifth- one of the most dramatic, assertive and original drum parts I have ever heard,, it's rock and roll but it's middle eastern too/and last but certainly not least a classic incredible guitar hook as memorable as Layla or Johnny B Goode with a wild very Israeli sounding melody. This song is worth the price of any CD-enough said.

2) Love Control- Energetic and catchy, highly produced but not too slick, radio friendly tune with some intense lyrics that can get inside your head for days and make you a bit crazy trying to understand.

3) Flowers Growing- This is a beautiful tune with evocative poetics and a complex melody that you will not tire of. The image of "flowers growing inside of me" is one you do not easily forget.

4) For You- A haunting tune complete with an electric harpsichord . It really grows on you

5) Not Again- This lead off track is the perfect introduction to Damon's talents, she sings jazz, croons 80's techno pop, and adds some folk and hard rock to boot

6) Lullaby- This track sounds almost live. It has a real immediate feel. Some type of eastern instrument plays along throughout. Might be a sitar, but whatever it is, it sounds great.

In fact, as good as Damon is as a singer and songwriter, her backing musicians are just as good in helping to bring out her vision. Ram Shem Tov does truly inspired work on electric guitar that would be enough to merit praise. But he is also the bass player (making up a fabulous rhythm section with drummer Nir Manzur) as well as the album's producer! Other supporting musicians are just as wonderful. I can't think of any reason why anyone who enjoys hearing alt. rock would not want to go directly to cdbaby.com/cd/anat and purchase this recording right away. You can say you bought it before she became famous in the states! For more information on this artist go to anatdamon.com

- Rob Lincoln

Falling - Anat Damon  

From my perspective as a guy in his mid-twenties, mid-life is when people stop and ponder: they start to worry about their retirement fund, saving money and calculating their pension income. Not so when it comes to Rock'nRoll. Anat Damon, a mid-life rock girl, goes on her first musical adventure with “Falling”, an indie production CD, which from the first time I listened to it (and I know I use this phrase a lot but this was the reaction with everyone around me) knocked me over. Released with a major label in the US or Europe, this disk would have been at least as successful, in my opinion, as Portishead’s “Dummy”… Anat, a seducer by her voice, a dreamer by her presentation, sings about life at mid-point and about love, of course. The disk carries the air of vinyl record, an air of longing for the times when ELO thrilled young hearts at school dance parties, when Bette Davis’ eyes were clouded with tears and the world was analog, not digital… The production of the album is orchestrated with great talent by Ran Shem-Tov of “Izabo” (who recently produced the new and beautiful album with Lior Elbo). The guy definitely got it. He brought to the album a far-off sound, unique retro, sixties’ guitars that flow into Folk and Country and together with the other Izabo members, creates a wonderful world, centred around Anat Damon who calls the colors of our emotions. And just like Baxter Dury, Broadway Project and our new friend Anat Damon, who all started playing music in their early thirties, you too, rich or poor, pick up a guitar and start playing… and maybe you too will release an album…
- Haim Cohen, March 2004

Falling - Anat Damon  

From my perspective as a guy in his mid-twenties, mid-life is when people stop and ponder: they start to worry about their retirement fund, saving money and calculating their pension income. Not so when it comes to Rock'nRoll. Anat Damon, a mid-life rock girl, goes on her first musical adventure with “Falling”, an indie production CD, which from the first time I listened to it (and I know I use this phrase a lot but this was the reaction with everyone around me) knocked me over. Released with a major label in the US or Europe, this disk would have been at least as successful, in my opinion, as Portishead’s “Dummy”… Anat, a seducer by her voice, a dreamer by her presentation, sings about life at mid-point and about love, of course. The disk carries the air of vinyl record, an air of longing for the times when ELO thrilled young hearts at school dance parties, when Bette Davis’ eyes were clouded with tears and the world was analog, not digital… The production of the album is orchestrated with great talent by Ran Shem-Tov of “Izabo” (who recently produced the new and beautiful album with Lior Elbo). The guy definitely got it. He brought to the album a far-off sound, unique retro, sixties’ guitars that flow into Folk and Country and together with the other Izabo members, creates a wonderful world, centred around Anat Damon who calls the colors of our emotions. And just like Baxter Dury, Broadway Project and our new friend Anat Damon, who all started playing music in their early thirties, you too, rich or poor, pick up a guitar and start playing… and maybe you too will release an album…
- Haim Cohen, March 2004