It's 3am. The street is silent. Nothing but the lush sounds of passing cars on the nearby high street. In an apartment seperated from the rest of the world, a man faces a midnight of the soul and comes out triumphant on the other side of the night. This is the essence of "Outreach", the fourth Marching Band album, and as Oren Raab describes it, the best album the band has released so far.
The Marching Band has been a solo outfit for Oren Raab since 1998, when he's decided he wants to form a band all by his own. Between 1998 and 2001, The Marching Band has released 4 albums, 2 EP's and one single. "Outreach", the fourth and most accomplished album, has become the first one to be distributed for sale.
In May 2004, The Marching Band has joined Misc, an Israeli organization dedicated to promote and help Israeli musicians singing in English, through live shows, networking and strategic help. The organization has created a line of monthly live evenings featuring Misc bands, two of which The Marching Band performed in, organized a festival, received national media attention, including a large, 3-page article in the culture section of a daily newspaper read by hundreds of thousands of people in Israel, and has ceased activity in May 2005.
The Marching Band, following a year away from music, is going back to record the elusive fifth album, now titled "Airports for Shadows", and hopes to be able to release it sometime in 2007.
"This is Pink Floyd plus a classical opera feel and minus the flying pigs... Just when you're drifting along on the melody, a jarring guitar crunch and squeal catches you off guard. Nothing is safe. But that's part of what makes it all so real... Many of these tracks create such an atmosphere: dangerous and seductive at the same time. Raab is more than a songwriter; he's an intelligent composer." Jennifer Layton, indie-music.com
Read more...