What We Are Made Of Shalosh

• 1 Ella Plays 04:27
• 2 Hysteria 03:47
• 3 Once Upon a Melody 03:51
• 4 Don't Look Back in Anger 04:20
• 5 Point of Gravity 04:25
• 6 Valley Song 05:25
• 7 Torn 03:08
• 8 Barbie Girl 04:11
• 9 Circle 04:55
• Total Runtime 38:29

Info for What We Are Made Of

“From the very start of SHALOSH, we have always said that we would never commit to any one genre but keep our music as open as possible,” drummer Matan Assayag says. “It’s the best way to bring ourselves fully to each song and the only way to stay truly authentic.” In more than a decade since its founding, the trio has made its signature this freewheeling, energetic and deeply-felt blend of jazz improvisation with everything from rock to Arabic music, western classical composition and pop melodics. Theirs is a journeying and infectiously engaging sound that has won fans from across the globe. What We Are Made Of, the band’s fourth album for ACT, impressively brings together all the influences that shape SHALOSH’s unmistakable overall sound.” Featuring a dazzlingly imaginative takes on ‘90s Europop anthem Barbie Girl, Oasis’ Don’t Look Back in Anger, Natalie Imbruglia’s early-noughties hit ballad Torn, Muses’ heavily rocking Hysteria and their own intricate, original compositions, the record is the group’s most open to date. It also marks the first time they have collaborated with a producer, ACT’s director, Andreas Brandis.

“We’re a piano trio in a world of piano trios and with six albums already under our belt we wanted to make sure we kept pushing ourselves out of our comfort zone,” pianist Gadi Stern says. “That resulted in bringing outside compositions into the group that we could reimagine. It also meant enlisting Andreas, who we have known and valued for years, as our first producer. He really encouraged our approach and the result was immensely creative.” Workshopping their ideas across a week of intense rehearsals with Brandis in Berlin, the group honed their cover versions and originals into the nine final tracks on the album.

“When I approach a cover I always look for something lacking in the performance that the composition has,” Stern says. “With Barbie Girl, it’s a brilliantly cynical song with great lyrics, it’s minor and has a melancholic melodic element to it but the performance is ‘90s Europop. I broke down all the elements to see how we could put it back together and make it more faithful to the essence of the song. While on Don’t Look Back in Anger I was on a walk during a trip to Tashkent in Uzbekistan and the groove for it just popped into my head. I recorded it on my phone and the whole idea only took 15 minutes.” Other tracks took longer to gestate, like the trio’s modernist jazz version of Torn. “We had previously recorded it for an album in 2018 but it didn’t make the cut because it was 12 minutes long and so messy,” bassist David Michaeli says. “We played it to Andreas during the Berlin sessions and he was great at telling us what to delete and what to keep and suddenly it made sense.” The trio’s originals, meanwhile, take shape in the achingly beautiful downtempo melodics of Ella Plays, which was inspired by Stern’s daughter Ella and the poetry of Khalil Gibran, the dark, swirling groove and vamping piano phrases of Point of Gravity and the meditative harmonics of Circle.

“The band is ultimately a safe space for the three of us to freely express ourselves and share our opinions and ideas,” Mahan Assayag says. “We accept each other and all of our songs are a collective effort, which is what you hear in the finished music – the variety of influence and experience that makes us who we are. It’s why we called the album What We Are Made Of.“ SHALOSH celebrate freedom, the beauty of contrasts, the value of truly listening to one another, and the deeply human process of creative searching and finding — qualities that seem especially important right now.”„

Gadi Stern, piano
David Michaeli, double bass
Matan Assayag, drums

Recorded September 10–11, 2025
Recorded by Klaus Scheuermann
Mixed and mastered by Klaus Scheuermann
Produced by Andreas Brandis

SHALOSH
Eine Jazzband, die eigentlich eine Rockband ist. Und umgekehrt. Gadi Stern, der Pianist, und Matan Assayag, der Drummer, kennen sich seit dem Kindergarten und haben schon auf dem Gymnasium in Israel gemeinsam Musik gemacht. Zusammen mit Bassist David Michaeli sind sie Shalosh, hebräisch für "drei". Furios verbinden sie verschiedene Stile: die Lautstärke des Rock und die Tanzbarkeit elektronischer Musik trifft auf die Sensibilität studierter Jazz-Musiker.

Shalosh sind kein Trio, das nur einen Leader hat. Man merkt ihnen ein blindes Verständnis an, wie es nur möglich ist bei Jungs, die seit ihrem 16. Lebensjahr zusammen Songs schreiben. Die Band beschreibt das mit einem Satz, den man am besten unübersetzt lässt: "Shalosh is not just a band, it's an idea."

Sieben Jahre lang lebte Gadi Stern in New York City. Der Israeli, Jahrgang 1987, wuchs in der Stadt als Musiker, doch Songs schrieb er zu der Zeit kaum – ihm fehlte der Austausch mit einer festen Band. Die drei Freunde blieben über die Jahre hinweg in Kontakt und stellten fest, dass das Zusammenspiel mit niemandem sonst so gut funktioniert.

Noch bevor Gadi zurück nach Tel Aviv gezogen war, nahmen Shalosh, die für Nirvana, Brahms, Thelonious Monk und das US-Trio The Bad Plus schwärmen, ihr Debüt auf. "The Bell Garden" wurde 2014 von der internationalen Presse gefeiert, ein Journalist hörte gar eine "junge Carole King mit Ben Folds am Klavier jammen". 2017 folgte ihr zweites Album "Rules of Oppression".

Shalosh geben im Studio und auf der Bühne stets alles, körperlich wie emotional. Das furiose Piano-Spiel von Gadi Stern wird durch die perkussive Wucht der Drums von Matan Assayag verstärkt, während Bassist David Michaeli die Groove-Basis legt. Dramatische Arpeggios, eingängige Melodien und mächtige Power-Akkorde: Shalosh machen weder Jazz noch Rock. Sie selbst nennen es "Acoustic Progressive Music". Es ist einfach fabelhaft aufregende Musik, wie man sie sonst nirgends zu hören bekommen wird.

Booklet for What We Are Made Of