Lion of Ido - Lion of Ido
Record Label: Pocket Symphonies
Release Date: September 25, 2007
Singer-songwriter Ido Zmishlany has a voice that is reflective of modern Broadway; he is able to carry a tune with the same voracious caterwauling liken to singers from Broadway musicals like Spring Awakening, Mamma Mia, and Hairspray. Zmishlany’s voice is ripe for the big lights of New York City’s Times Square or London, England’s theatre district at Piccadily Circus. His latest album Lion of Ido, released by Pocket Symphonies, garters basic piano and vocal melodies that are colored by a myriad of twizzling instrumentation erecting waves of sonic infernos that rush in and build up and then ebb and fade out through the course of melodic cycles. Sections of the album are nicely laminated and fluid, while other parts are grandly paneled and heavily tinseled.
Speaking of the album’s grandeur, voluminous gang vocals play an important role in some of the tracks like “Make You Proud,” “Of What We’re Made,” “We Are in Love,” “Memories,” “Everything Changes,” “Sleepless Night,” and “Love, Belief, and the City.” The gang vocals impact the songs with a windfall of robust force. Included in the gang vocals with Zmishlany, in alphabetical order, are Tom Anderer, Ali Borowick, Danielle Cella, Joe Manzione, Natasha Miami, Fiona O’Sullivan, Kara Rentenski, Ivan Rodriguez, Tony Shustak, Assaf Spector, and Virginia Valerino. All songs are written and performed by Ido Zmishlany with a handful of tunes written by Assaf Spector like “Make You Proud,” “Of What We’re Made,” “We Are in Love,” “Photograph,” and “Love, Belief, and the City.” The lyrics describe what causes a relationship to pause and what it’s like to live in its exhilarating moments. There are lyrics that live in love’s joy, and verses which step back and analyze the situation, ruminating about the rifts like in the track “Sleepless Night.” Zmishlany reflects in the song, “Tonight I lay awake in bed / Where we’re created and where we’re born and die / The somber night lays still / While I drown inside myself / I’m so tired / Maybe a drink will help / Sleep is ease with choice / I try to forget the voice of my thoughts / That keeps me from peace.” The clarity of Zmishlany’s vocals increases the song's nitric flairs.
Lion of Ido opens with a jubilant electro-pop frenzy raking “Make You Proud” with a salvo of atomizing notes that split and multiply at a speed of light rate. The slips of theatrical horns in “We Are in Love” are fun and perky kiting soft flounces with vaudeville-like grooves. The piano and guitar melodies layered through “Of What We’re Made” and “Memories” have melodic hooks that are reminiscent of Keane including heart-felt vocals that knead into the chord lifts. The marbling of keyboards and guitar lines in tracks like “Lion’s Song” and “Photography” have striking hooks with Cezanne-esque fluidity. “If You Don’t Mind” and “Lie to Me” have embracing vocals exhibiting a modern showtunes billing, and the upbeat sensations of “Everything Changes” has movements that spin in fast-forward producing winded skids. The minimalism in the guitar chords of “Oh Cassandra” are shaped by Zmishlany’s emotive vocals, while the winsome rhythmic beats of “Buy You Diamonds” tippy-toe along the modish keyboards that shake and stir up the activity. The melodies are likable while revealing Ido Zmishlany’s inner core.
Produced by Ido Zmishlany, Lion of Ido is the work of Zmishlany with the aid of many of his close friends including a few tracks mixed and co-produced by Assaf Spector and Eitan Graff, and some bass parts played by Michael Zmishlany and Assaf. What is impressive about the album is its consistency to make melodic scores that are agreeable with Zmishlany’s vocals. The songs are modern sounding and show a need for the stage, which is where they belong, performed live.
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