Hi everyone,

I hope your new year is off to a good start.

I’m happy to announce that "Gila," the first single off our upcoming EP, is officially out! Find it on Bandcamp and all the streaming services.

The “Broken Promise” EP will be released by Repeating Cloud records and we couldn’t be more excited. This is an intense and personal song cycle that explores feelings of displacement, finding happiness and love in the darkest places, and the corrupting effect of ideological purity.

The cover image of "Gila" (which means "happiness" in Hebrew) features the image of a Turkish ketubah, or Jewish marriage contract, from 1853. My grandfather emigrated to the U.S. from Turkey in the early 20th century, his family a part of the Sephardic Jewish community in Istanbul. My grandmother was also an Ottoman Jew from Greece; her family emigrated to the U.S. around the same time.

For me, this ketubah symbolizes the beauty of what my family and community had, and what they lost, themes that inspired "Gila" and other songs on the EP.

The cover of the “Broken Promise” EP is a painting by the Israeli artist Siona Tagger, who began her career in pre-1948 Tel Aviv. In dozens of paintings and drawings Tagger captured the lives of the inhabitants of the region, including Sephardic and Mizrahi Jews and Christian and Muslim Palestinians. Her work speaks of a moment when diverse groups of people coexisted more or less peacefully in that troubled part of the world.

For me, this particular painting — a train running through a neighborhood in old Tel Aviv/Yaffa — evokes themes reflected throughout the EP, themes of movement and migration, but also hope. We’ve used Tagger’s art with permission from her family.

The full "Broken Promise" EP will be released in mid-February with a fun bonus: If you purchase the digital EP you'll receive a 7" featuring the tracks "Villages" and "New Home"!

"Gila" is available TODAY on Bandcamp and on all the streaming services.

Thanks for reading and listening. Happy new year and stay tuned for more!

Josh