The Girl With No Skin is the new album by Israeli singer Ella Ronen who was formerly a spy for the Israeli army, this album deals with some of the adventures good and bad that she's gone through. Since leaving the Israeli army she has relocated to Zurich Switzerland. The album was produced by Sam Cohen in New York with backing from Sam Cohen, Jared Samuel, David Christian, Elizabeth Pupo, Dave Nelson and Stuart Bogie.
The album opens with the bongo led Truth that allows Ella's clear vocals to make plain that no matter what Truth will out, it's on its way and you need to accept it, knowing that what you've done will catch up with you, the plaintive qualities of the signing working against the carefully produced backing. As the exposure of a well-known journalist and sexual predator is laid bare.
Undercover is about being in the Israeli army and going undercover as field Commander Ronen, the lyrics are at odds with the beauty of the backing music explaining her journey as an 18 year old who was recruited as a spy, the lush orchestral backing recalls John Cale's Paris 1919.
Howl is a mellow scream of pain that asks questions of how to love you correctly and without any pain, as the well-spaced out guitar strums act as almost punctuation for the pleasure and pain she feels.
Fuck Cute she's tired of being told she's Cute as it never ends well, this is a modern anti-love song that really wants some deep appreciation for who she is, not how she looks. As the song builds the vocals shift into a more spoken word passage that gives this a bit of a Genya Raven feel.
The Girl With No Skin is for a poor child born without a skin, that feels like it could be an allegory for all the victims of all the terrible wars and troubles, as this very sparse beautiful song tells such a dark disturbing tale, as the doctors try to help the poor child to survive.
Feel It Rising works around the tablas and handclaps as the feelings are kept down, but well can you help it if they keep rising and do you own your own destiny, do you feel the love rising within you.
I Just Want To See You has Ella explaining that she doesn't want to be your mother or care for you, she just wants to see you, as the careful backing makes it feels like a pointed plea, Sam Cohen's vocals come into play the other side of the coin, saying how much he wants to see her as well. Will love conquer all, will they end up enmeshed together, or just sat opposite each other gazing lovingly at one another.
The Mall takes us deep into the middle east malaise during a festival, as things go awry, this is the most forceful song musically, as the band burst into life, with forceful drumming and in your face guitars accompany this tale, that has a lot happening over a short space of time. The song ends with a vocoder infused vocal mantra.
Tightrope is a memory of one of those days when you want your mum to come and collect you, to take you back to the safety of her arms. But of course you are far from that safe place and have to find a way out of whatever situation you are in.
The album closes with Rearview one last remembrance of the things she did with her mum and family, was her mum a witch, did she cast spells did they rid their lives of the Golems of the past, well this slow piano ballad takes us back to the concentration camps her grandmother survived, this is bewitching and beguiling like much of this very impressive album.
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