I came to Static’s debut album, “Liraz”, with a lot of expectations but also no less fears. Static is the main person responsible for the renaissance of Israeli pop that began in the 2015-16 area and continues to this day. He looked at the global pop industry and made a precise and calculated adaptation for the local scene. However, in the last years of Static and Ben El, the pioneers of Israeli pop found themselves more led than leading. Noa Kirel, Anna Zak, Agam Bohbut, Nuno, Margie and more became bolder and bolder while Static and Ben Al preferred to play it safe.
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The big question I was looking for an answer to in the album is – will Static succeed (or even try) to reinvent himself? In the case of statics, this is a crucial question. If he doesn’t succeed, a solo career will have no justification. If he succeeds, whatever he does will already permeate the entire industry. But even before pressing play there is already something to appreciate: the fact that Static chose to release an album first, without preliminary singles and without music videos in the first stage, is not self-evident in the Israeli pop scene. Noa Kirel, Anna Zak, Margi, Neta Barzilai – none of them have a full studio album yet, Static and Ben El had one and only album, “Seven Moons”, which also came only six years into their career. only Nono was righteous in Sodom when she released a full (and excellent) debut album about a year into her career. And here “Liraz” comes with 12 full tracks, without transition sections, which also makes it one of the few pop albums in recent years with such a respectable amount of new material.
The album opens with the theme song “Liraz”, a kind of dark rap ballad, in which the authentic and complicated Liraz conducts a dialogue with Static – his diabolical alter ego, a kind of Eminem/Slim Shady dynamic. Apart from a single line in the chorus (“both in good and bad, this is the price of success”) that feels a bit off, this is a strong opening for the album: an interesting concept, an impressive production and excellent houses. The album continues with two great dance-pop bangers, “Balenciaga” and “Rondles”, which switch between rap and vocals and are well held together by Static alone. From there comes the third song, “Perfect Crime” which is also the first collaboration on the album out of three: here it is Eden Ben Zaken, while later in “Tarantola” and “Wash the eyes” Agam Bohbot and Iti Levy are guests, respectively. Ben Zaken Bohbut gives commendable performances in collaborations that were done in an intelligent and flattering way for all parties. “Wash the eyes” on the other hand feels like a b-side of Static and Ben El with Itay Levy in a substitute role.
A prominent candidate for the title of the best song on the album is “Tahnonim” which moves elegantly between an old-fashioned oriental sound to trap-drill and between curled and automatic singing to rap. “Supplications” presents new and flattering colors of static, as does the closing song “Dance”. “Dance” is a guitar ballad that includes almost exclusively vocals and very little vocal processing compared to the rest of the album. Static holds the vocal challenge in a respectable way and shows that although he is not the greatest singer, he can shine with melodies that suit his qualities.
“Liraz” is really not a perfect album, but it is an excellent pop album. He moves around the same genres that we are used to hearing in Israeli pop – dance, trap, reggaeton and Mizrahit, but he manages to be interesting by mixing and jumping between them in a slightly more daring way than we know in the mainstream. The album was made in a short time but it doesn’t sound like that. It sounds rich, tight and invested. The album feels like a project of trial and error, of searching for different directions and styles in order to find the focal points for the rest of the solo career. It is evident that Static still has a lot of ability and talent that makes us believe that much better works are expected in his future. He can and deserves a successful solo career that has a very good chance of surpassing everything he has done so far as a duo.