Nelly Klayman-Cohen – piano, vocals
Isak Hedtjärn – bass clarinet
Patric Thorman – double bass
Singer, pianist and composer Nelly Klayman-Cohen, who performs under the name Rotem Geffen, evokes a simultaneously refined and raw dream world with her music. The lyrics are written in German, English and Hebrew, and explore worlds of thought that touch on memory, love and grief, but also a kind of poetics of the night. The poet Paul Celan plays a special role. In several of Rotem Geffen’s songs, an intertextual and intimate dialogue is conducted with his poems. The songs are permeated by a naïve shimmer that is balanced by blackness, heaviness and a low-key intensity – in both lyrics and music.
Her latest album, The night is the night, has received fantastic reviews in the Swedish and international press. On the album, she has collaborated with producer Alex Zethson and mix engineer Anton Torell. The music is carried by a sensual sense of sound that is orchestrated together with some of Stockholm’s most prominent improvisational musicians. The songs show how intimately the instrumental is woven into the lyrics, in an artistic expression where movement, light and darkness, love and pain, presence and loss, form an indissoluble whole.
Rotem Geffen also performs at Way out West in August.
“The singer, pianist, and composer Nelly Klayman-Cohen, who performs under the name Rotem Geffen, conjures a simultaneously refined and raw dream world with her music. Everyone who has heard her live or on record knows that she has a unique ability to create a space that resonates. Connected with the piano and her voice, she has a presence that strikes you, that demands your attention and makes you want to listen. Don’t miss at Stay Out West!”
https://www.lira.se/skivrecension/the-night-is-the-night
https://www.lira.se/skivrecension/the-night-is-the-night/
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The year’s 20 best songs, 2024, according to DN
Rotem Geffen. Photo: Knotan
“The night is the night”
Rotem Geffen
Listen to the song on Youtube Music, Apple Music or Spotify
Under her artist name Rotem Geffen, composer Nelly Klayman-Cohen creates a unique blend of heartfelt free jazz, experimental art pop and song poetry, where the Stockholm native alternates between English, German and Hebrew.