Upside Down Blues, the debut album from Shyfrin Alliance, is almost as fitting a title as a record can have: twelve songs that fuse blues and rock with elements of jazz and soul to create an alternate musical universe that’s familiar and new all at once. With a liquid gravel baritone unlike anyone in the blues world today, Eduard Shyfrin doesn’t so much sing as he engages in verbal acrobatics with his own lyrics, teasing the most out of every syllable and subtly weaving in just the right dose of subtle intensity to bring the songs to life.
The Alliance (a six-piece ensemble featuring some of the EU’s best musicians) underscores the proceedings in muted technicolor, painting a sonic portrait that dwells more in the realms of infrared and ultraviolet than visible light. Upside Down Blues isn’t post-modern blues, post-modern jazz or post-modern anything, it’s a reflection in a black mirror that taps into what makes the blues work – an instant emotional connection to the stories being told.
Raised in a jazz-centric household and classically trained on piano as a child, Shyfrin put music aside for most of his adult life as he had a highly successful career in science/industry (metallurgy) and became one of the world’s foremost authors on Kabbalah. The pandemic afforded him a new luxury – time – and that awakened a musical spark. “Lockdown gave me time,” he relates. “My life as a businessman was very hectic, I never had time. So when I found myself with time, I decided not to waste it and resumed lessons on vocals and piano.
“Then, all of a sudden, I started composing. I’d consumed almost all the blues Spotify had to offer during lockdown, and absorbing that must have sunk into my subconscious and I started writing songs. Blues songs. As far as lyrics, English is not my first language but it is the mother tongue of the blues so the songs had to be written in English. I have a very strong belief the songs have to have a message; if I don’t feel there’s a message, it doesn’t make sense. My lyrics are deeply affected by my Kabbalah studies, as well as the world today. The purpose of this project is to send a message to the world, of love and of anti-war.”
