(V2/Shock)

London/Yiddish collective effectively mix folk music with beats

If you hadn’t done your research and put on the gypsy skank of Yuri on your CD player, you’d think you were listening to a crew of Russian ska musicians getting hyperactive.  In actual fact, it’s the opening tune on the second and self-titled album from Oi Va Voi, a group of Londoners who combine their Jewish heritage with an adventurous mixture of pop, dance, torch songs and Eastern European folk music. A pre-fame K.T. Tunstall was a guest vocalist on their 2004 debut album, but their newest singer Alice McLaughlin is an admirable replacement.  She combines torch singer vocals with the otherworldly phrasing of Bjork, transforming Further Deeper and Dry Your Eyes into soaring epics.  Black Sheep, meanwhile, combines Alice’s vocals with guest musicians from the Nazareth Orchestra: the result is a sweeping mixture of brooding pop and Jewish string arrangements.  The barnstorming instrumental Balkanik ably demonstrates the group’s roots and Dissident combines swelling horns with superb vocals from Hungarian folk singer Agi Szaloki. An atmospheric and thoroughly danceable collection of songs.    

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MATT THROWER

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