Darshan (band)

Prior to meeting for the first time, Eprhyme had been a rapper in the Olympia music scene as part of the duo Saints of Everyday Failures,[1][2][3] while Shir Yaakov Feit had informally freestyle rapped and beatboxed with the band Lev Yerushalayim as a yeshiva student in Israel.[4] The two met in the summer of 2007 at Hazon's Isabella Freedman Jewish Retreat Center in Connecticut, where Epryhme was a fellow in the Adamah program and Feit was a residential employee. They connected musically while Eprhyme was driving Feit to the airport at the end of the session, and Feit subsequently provided vocals for Eprhyme's first solo album. The following summer session, they began writing and performing together.[5]

The band's debut EP, Lishmah was released by Shemspeed Records on December 15, 2009,[6] who subsequently re-released the record on January 5, 2010.[7][8] The EP was produced by Shir Yaakov and engineered by Smoke M2D6 of Oldominion.[9] A second EP, To Zion, was released on January 14, 2011.[10][11] One of the EP's songs, a hip-hop version of "Chad Gadya", was issued as a single via Shemspeed in 2012.[12]

The group's first full-length album, Deeper and Higher, was released on September 29, 2015. It was produced by Jamie Saft and featured accompaniment by him, Ben Perowsky, and Basya Schechter of Pharaoh's Daughter.[13]

In addition to hip hop, Darshan's music also contains elements of folk rock and the minor key melodies of traditional Jewish music.[6][7] An early press release by the band described their sound as "harmonizing Hebrew chant with hip hop, folk rock with electro-pop, love poetry with kabbalistic psychology" and cited The Postal Service, Björk, Beastie Boys, and The Beatles as reference points.[14] Ezra Glinter of The Forward wrote, "Eprhyme's hard-driving lyrics are tempered and sweetened by Shir Yaakov’s more melody-driven sensibilities."[7]

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