No Shame
Joining a band never occurred to Elijah Oberman. The classically trained violinist studying at the New School had abandoned all musical ambition, leaving his instrument to collect dust under his childhood bed, when fellow undergrad Louisa Soloman approached him about starting a new group.
“No, no, no, I don’t do that,” Oberman remembers recoiling at the aspiring singer-bassist’s request. “And she said, ‘Well, you do now!’”
Reclaiming the instrument he began studying at age 4, Oberman formed The Shondes two years ago with Soloman, guitarist Ian Brannigan and drummer Temim Fruchter after the first band broke up. Drawing from Rasputina and Sleater-Kinney, the Park Slope punk quartet packs political, pro-Palestine lyrics with distorted guitar, crashing drums and traditional, Jewish melodic motives. The Shondes’ self-released, debut full-length, The Red Sea, includes 11 songs recorded at Studio G in Brooklyn with Tony Maimone (Frank Black, They Might Be Giants). It came out Jan. 8 and will be available at this Friday’s record release party at the Luna Lounge.
“From the beginning, we were very serious about this,” Oberman says from a tour stop in Chicago. “One of the things that makes our sound different is we come from an eclectic mix of musical backgrounds. Some of us grew up listening to classical music, some of us grew up with Jewish music, some of us were very punk rock and into riot grrl… We make space in our songwriting for all our different musical influences.”
With a name meaning “shame” or “disgrace” in Yiddish, three Shondes are transgender and three are Jewish. After meeting one another at The New School, Oberman, Solomon and Brannigan found Fruchter while protesting the 2004 Republican National Convention in Manhattan. The four continue to work with Jews Against the Occupation. “We are a political band—even the songs about our personal histories, we identify all our songs as political,” Oberman says. “We have a song that is specifically about being Jews.”
“I Watched the Temple Fall” is one of the first songs the close friends wrote together. Emerging out of conversations about the meaning of Tisha B’Av, one of the saddest days on the Jewish calendar, the mid-tempo album centerpiece includes a phrase from a classic holiday melody, contrapuntal vocal lines, fuzzy guitar, dissonant strings and pointed lyrics: “You watched Schindler’s List this morning/To create generic mourning.”
“We live in this cultural moment in New York when being Jewish is cool,” Oberman explains. “And if we’re identifying as Jews and as musicians, that’s something that we felt we needed to address.”
After a national tour to promote The Red Sea that involved a testy encounter with Ron Paul fanatics in Oregon and a gig at Seattle’s historic, recently shuttered Crocodile Café, The Shondes are coming home. Friday’s Luna Lounge lineup also includes Royal Pink and My Teenage Stride. “It’s a really big deal for us to be releasing this record and it’s something we’re really proud of,” Oberman says. “We’ll make a big party out of it.”
Jan. 11, Luna Lounge, 361 Metropolitan Ave. (at Havemeyer St.), B’klyn, 718-384 7112; 7, $8. (w/ The Hungry March Band, The Art of Shooting, My Teenage Stride, Royal Pink)
