Everything Is Worth It
iogi, AKA Yogev Glusman, talks about his sophisticated sensibilities, and the road the led to his unique solo aesthetic
Yogev Glusman writes beautiful songs. His style is sparse, guitar-centric pop, often sung in a disarming falsetto, and adorned with subtle warbles and slightly modulated textures. He records alone, usually straight into a computer, and plays most of the instruments himself. He first started working that way when compiling the tracks for his 2018 debut, the ceiling, and repeated the process for this year’s, everything’s worth it, both of which he released under the moniker, iogi.
“It’s pronounced, ‘Yogi,’” he says about the unusual spelling, at least, unusual for English speakers. “Yogi with a Y was taken, so I did it with an I. My family is from Argentina—my parents are from Argentina—and they used to write my name, Yogev, the full name, with an I in the beginning. People ask me, ‘Is it i-ogi?’ But no, it is Yogi. It’s just with an I.”
Glusman didn’t start his career as a solo artist, and has an impressive curriculum vitae as an in-demand sideman. He learned the ropes with old-timers like Yoni Rechter and Efraim Shamir from the legendary Israeli band, Kaveret, and toured the world as a guitarist with the Yemeni-pop-fusion group, A-WA, as well as as a bassist for Idan Raichel. He’s also done countless sessions in Israel with artists like Buttering Trio, Liraz, and many others. “I really want to tour with my own music,” he says about his future plans. “I toured for years with other artists, and I got to know how it feels to tour and to be playing every night in a different club, but now I have the urge to do it with my own music.”
Glusman seems to have an urge to do a lot of things, and that passion was evident when he spoke with me recently from his studio in Tel Aviv. We talked about the challenges of making a living as a musician in Israel, the serendipity that landed his songs on Israel’s biggest playlists, his experiences paying his dues on the road, and why, despite being a Hebrew speaker, he enjoys singing in English.
What’s your background?
I grew up in Be’er Sheva, and moved to Tel Aviv when I was about 18, during my first year in the army. I started playing violin when I was seven years old. I was basically a classical violinist until I was 18. I was accepted into the army band to play violin, but then I got a bass and convinced everybody that I could play the bass. I did that for a few years. I was a musical arranger for some groups. I was really into classical music, but when I got to the army I got to know a lot of jazz musicians—when you get into the army as a musician, everyone is either a jazz or a classical musician—I got to know a lot of jazz musicians who taught me a lot about other kinds of music. I wasn’t really into jazz at any part of my career, but playing with them and meeting those musicians opened up another door for me.
Did you go to music college after the army?
No. I finished the army and immediately started playing with some singers I got to know. I didn’t see a real need. I was playing and learning from just being around. For me, that was the best, because I am not good at studying. I was learning by working.
Early on, you worked with a lot of the old-timers from the Israeli scene, like Yoni Rechter and Efraim Shamir from Kaveret [כוורת]. What was it like working with them and what did you learn about the evolution of the scene? In the old videos, it looks like they used to do a lot of skits on stage, as opposed to doing a straight concert.
I was a big fan of those older musicians as a child. I grew up on Kaveret, Shlomo Yidov, and Shlomo Gronich—all kinds of musicians who are now 60 or 70 years old. At the point in their careers that I played with them, there weren’t doing skits and stuff. Only the music was left. The first gig I had as a professional musician was with Efraim Shamir, who was in Kaveret. I had to break a lot of [mental] barriers, because this was the guy I saw as a kid sing the most beautiful songs, and now I was accompanying him as a musician.
I learned a lot from them. In Israel, the industry is pretty tough to survive, and all the guys I played with are not rich from music. They basically struggled. I learned from them that if music is what you do, there is no other way. There’s no escaping it. You might as well just do it as best as you can and not complain too much. It is tough here as a musician, especially at that age. The music consumers in Israel are more into new stuff and new bands. For the older musicians, it is hard to draw crowds.
How did you hook up with Idan Raichel?
He contacted me right when I started working with A-WA. I think he saw me in an Efraim Shamir concert. He was renewing and refreshing his big band, so he invited me and a drummer friend to audition. We passed the audition. It was at a time when I played with a lot of Israeli musicians in Israel, and he said to me, “If you want to play with me, you have to leave everything else because there is a lot of touring, and also a lot of time away from home for long periods.” I decided to do it, and I did it for three or four years. There were a lot of musical situations where he needed me, because he needed a bass player for all the different projects he does. He has several projects, some are his big band, some are a small trio or quintet, some are with African musicians he tours with [Ali Farka Touré]. I was doing mainly that for those years.
It seems like the Israeli scene has really grown. There are a lot of great musicians and it is a very diverse scene as well. Why do you think has happened?
I think there are a lot more musicians, although it is funny, because there is more music and more bands, but the crowd stays the same. There is a limit to the crowd sizes.
But are musicians able to earn a living? Do people have to do general business gigs (like weddings and bar mitzvahs), too?
You can be a part of both, but most of the musicians that I work with do either one or the other. But even if you are a session bass player or guitar player, you can find yourself doing five different gigs at the same time. There is a lot of musical diversity, and that is why when Israeli musicians go to the U.S. for example, they are often accepted with open arms. Israeli musicians are very experienced and versatile. That is special about Israel, because there is a lot of music but not enough musicians, and everybody needs to dance around that.
Your sound definitely vibes artists like Unknown Mortal Orchestra and Connan Mockasin.
Those two examples are perfect. They are two of my main influences as a songwriter and as a producer. The first album was recorded without thinking about the next steps of what will happen. I recorded it in the middle of tours with A-WA and Idan Raichel. When I was home, I started recording some songs. I didn’t have a bunch of songs that I was waiting to produce, it was just opening the laptop and writing into a session on the computer. What I came up with are the nine songs that are on that album. I didn't have any other songs at that time. I knew—I didn’t have plans—but I knew if I did something, I would do it on my own. I played most of the instruments. I produced it with a good friend of mine, Nomok (Noam Havkin), who helped me put everything together.
I have some good friends who are a part of the label, Raw Tapes, where I release my albums. They heard it and decided to release it. But we didn’t prepare for it at all. I didn’t expect anyone to hear it or to like it. We didn’t release a first single or a video or to the radio. It came out on a VIP list of the label that went straight to the main radio editors in Israel. They chose a few songs and put them in their playlists and things started happening. After things started happening and songs were on playlists, then we decided to make a video and to start working on it. The songs that got on the radio were not the songs that I would have chosen, they decided what to play, and I am really thankful for that.
You have an album in Hebrew as well under your full name. What is that?
That was during the time between when I recorded the first album, the ceiling—when I didn’t know what to do with it—and before Raw Tapes decided to take it and we decided to release it. I moved to a studio in my house. I had a little room, and a friend of mine, who was a part of Avaza Records, which is an Israeli indie label, told me that if I did an album in Hebrew, that he would release it. I said, “Ok.” I started again like the first album. I worked with a computer, wrote nine songs, and those nine songs became the album. Once the album was released people in Israel already knew me and knew my name—it was released after the ceiling—and it was easy to connect the full name to the English name. I don’t know if singing in Hebrew was a phase or if it’s something I want to continue doing, because right now I really enjoy writing and performing in English. But also from that album, there are two songs that did really well on the radio and Spotify.
Do you perform both at your concerts?
I basically have two different bands. I wanted to keep them completely separate. But for example, two days ago I did a show in Jerusalem—an acoustic show—and I did it in English. I finished the show, and then people shouted for songs from the Hebrew album, so I did a version of those. My vision was of two different bands. I don’t know what will happen next, so whatever comes, I will do.
You said you enjoy singing in English. What is it about English that you like as opposed to Hebrew?
It’s not as opposed to Hebrew, it’s just that all the music that I absorbed in the last 10 or 15 years was in English. There are very few Israeli artists who make the kind of music that I am personally looking for. Also, even when I was little and writing songs, they were in English. I think the fact that I know Spanish—I grew up speaking Spanish because of my parents—maybe that helped a bit.
Tell me more about Raw Tapes. It seems like a lot of those artists have a similar aesthetic to yours.
It is a small scene. There are not a lot of labels in Israel, and not a lot of labels survive. I don’t know if musically it is the same genre, but it is a small group of friends who make music in similar ways. It doesn’t sound similar in the end, but it’s everyone in his own studio. It is a label that until I released my music was a bit more avant-garde. A lot of hip hop beats and lo fi beats. I am basically the first artists who made an album of singer songwriter type music, and that isn’t electronic. But we’re helping each other. They’re also trying to expand their catalog. They have an amazing artist called Motti Rodan, who writes beautiful songs and beautiful music.
What’s the story behind your video for “you\me\everyone”?
That was the first time that I really acted. There was a director shouting directions at me. All the other videos I did were just me being me, but this time I had to act. The video was directed by Roy Rieck, who’s also a musician, but he directs films and video clips, too. I had that song, and it didn’t mean much text wise, it was an experiment of trying to write a song that would be fun. I told Roy experiment also with the video. He found this NASA archival video from the 1950s or ‘60s of a spaceship, and he started building a story around that. We did it with a videographer named Ben Kirschenbaum who does a lot of amazing stuff here in Israel. He brought these special cameras and lenses and filters to make it look exactly like the archival footage. There was a guy who built my spaceship with two supermarket carts. He took two and cut them in the middle and put them together. Crazy stuff.
How supportive is Israeli TV and radio of local artists? Your stuff took off because of radio, but in general is it more western-focused? Do they promote local artists as well?
They promote, but not enough. Like the really small indie stuff—even if it is really good—it doesn’t get there. But there is a bit. Every month or so—I don’t the specific timing—they’ll take a new song by an indie artist. It goes on this playlist that plays only at night, and not during the day. There is one big radio station, and basically that’s the main station. I was lucky enough that they decided to play a song. There is also a station called 88 FM, which is a bit more indie. But other than these two stations, there are not a lot of stations that really help small or independent musicians.
How about Galgalatz?
That is the mainstream. Galgalatz is the biggest radio station. My songs first got on the Galgalatz night playlist—from 8:00 PM until morning—and if you get onto the Galgalatz main playlist, it’s a reason to celebrate. It's an achievement.
What are your plans coming out of Corona?
I opened this studio with a good friend and I’ve been producing for other artists. I was working a bit on my own stuff, but mainly for other artists. I am producing and mixing, so I was here a lot. The fact that it’s a new studio, I can experiment and be here for days. Everything is fresh and new to me. There were a few Corona projects, like covers for artists—all kinds of projects that I took part of as a musician, that I sang on—that’s it. My new album is out on April 9, Everything’s Worth It. I have a few shows in Israel to celebrate the release of the album and I hope nothing closes again. I really want to tour with my own music. I toured for years with other artists, and I got to know how it feels to tour and to be playing every night in a different club, but now I have the urge to do it with my own music. But we’ll have to see. From looking at the Spotify and Apple data, I can see that most of the listeners are not from here in Israel. Most are from LA and Australia and such. It is calling me, but I have to wait and be patient.
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