By Dovid Fisher
For The Mitzpeh
Kol Sasson’s new album Low Grade Fever is a full of passion and joyous voices. The album features the Jewish a capella group’s latest covers of songs. I got my hands on this 12 song a capella album and soon took to liking it.
Low Grade Fever features songs ranging from a traditional “Lecha Dodi” to modern songs such as “Shake it Out.” Kol Sasson preferred to focus on medium speed and slow songs. While the album opens slowly, it more than makes up for itself by the end. The background vocals, harmonies, and beatboxing were superb.
The album opens with the song “Home,” a medium-paced song with soloist Scott Kaplowitz. My favorite songs were “Shake it Out” and “Valerie,” both done beautifully by Aliza Grant. Other highlights include the song “Lecha Dodi,” sung to the tune of the Maccabeats song of the same name, “Arim Roshi (I Raise My Head),” sung by Sharon Amir, “Lirot Et Haor (To See the Light)” and “Addicted to You,” both sung by Tal Lee. Also included are “Yofyafisa/Breakaway,” “Falling Slowly,” “Happy Ending,” “My Immortal,” and “Latch.”
The voices on this Kol Sasson album featured Sharon Amir, Zoe Eisenberg, Aliza Grant, Matthew Jacobson, Scott Kaplowitz, Dani Katz, Tal Lee, Netanel Levitt, Leeza Malachevsky, Dahvid NessAiver, and Jonathan Zuckerman.
The joy of Kol Sasson’s singers truly shows in Low Grade Fever. My one complaint was the clustering of slow songs at the beginning. While there is only one fast song in the album, “Shake it Off,” it is the fourth song. I rated nine out of the twelve songs four stars or above, and no song got below three stars. I rate this album a 4 out of 5 stars. Kol Sasson is a talented group, and I will definitely be listening to this album for a while.
