Tel-Aviv northern soul in The Faithful Brothers’ self-titled debut
The Faithful Brothers are putting the Tel-Aviv northern soul scene on the map with their self-titled debut album The Faithful Brothers out on Mr.Mellow’s Music.
If you’re a soulie visiting Tel-Aviv chances are you may have encountered the Tel Aviv Soul Club, founded by Yashiv Cohen, a DJ and singer best known for fronting the band Men Of North County, who blend rock, British pop and soul. Yashiv teamed up with the brothers Johnnie and Bin Neeman, whose massive soul collections had been hitherto confined to their respective living rooms, and slowly goaded them into sharing their collections at soul nights.
Since Neeman means Faithful in Hebrew, Yashiv woke up one morning with the crystallization that MONC must create a spin-off, a more puristic soul band, called the Faithful Brothers. It took a few more years, but gradually the brothers succumbed to their fate, to continue their musical progression, from collectors to DJs to musicians. Johnnie took his guitar, Bin took to the piano, and the brothers began pouring out some of their influences, creating new songs. It is finally all coming together now.
The Faithful Brothers – now an eight-piece band, complete with a mighty brass section – have recorded a few of the brothers Neeman‘s songs, and have had their first live appearance, opening for and also backing American soul artist Eli Paperboy Reed on a visit to Tel Aviv.
‘The Faithful Brothers’ out on LP / digital on Sep 15th 2023 via Mr. Mellow’s Music
