“Shai is a lobster.”
This is the regard in which new-ish Subterranean Masquerade front-man Davidavi Dolev holds his bandmate, keyboardist Shai Yallin. Lobsters, you see, have evolved an impressive pair of eyeballs that not only enable them to see just fine several hundred feet below salty sea surfaces, they also have a 180° field of vision.
But that’s not what “Vidi” is talking about. He’s talking about the peac**k mantis shrimp, which is neither a peac**k, nor a mantis, nor a shrimp. Formally known as Odontodactylus scyllarus, this bizarre crustacean has north of a dozen photoreceptors in its eyes (compared to your three), which some believe allows the mantis shrimp to see colors that you and I can’t even comprehend. Though this is disputed (see the NatGeo article at here), Radiolab (here) did a fascinating audio story that illustrates Vidi’s point beautifully.
And his point, to wit, is this: his psychedelic-loving, micro-dosing, analog keyboard-playing bandmate Shai composes music like a guy who sees through dual 4mm f/0 lenses coated in colors you’ve never seen. And he does so with the help of a guy whose musical background is in black metal.
“Tomer and Shaihave a beautiful musical relationship where they work parallel to each other, and they glue that to what the other guys are doing.” adds Vidi.
This is how bandleader/ guitarist Tomer Pink and his assigns are able create music that sounds like death metal, tastes like klezmer, and feels like progressive rock, all at once. “It’s what happens when you work with one guy who is crazy, and another guy who is lobster-crazy.”
“I think he lives forever too,” he admits between laughs.
“Mountain Fever” Album Artwork
The charismatic Haifa-born front-man chatted with Sonic Perspectives Texas Bureau Chief Gonzalo Pozo a few nights into the cease-fire his home country of Israel had just negotiated with Hamas. The pair discuss life, hummus, emerging from a pandemic, The Beatles, Subterranean Masquerade’s ridiculously awesome new record “Mountain Fever,” and what gives Vidi hope during yet another round of conflict in his homeland. Listen to their revealing conversation below, and remember that for more interviews and other daily content, make sure to follow Sonic Perspectives on Facebook, Flipboard and Twitter and subscribe to our YouTube channel to be notified about new interviews and contents we publish on a daily basis.
(Lobsters, by the way, are not kosher.)
Podcast: Download (Duration: 1:08:32 — 157.2MB)
Subscribe to our Podcasts on: Apple Podcasts | iHeartRadio | Email
