BLACKFIELD (Progressive Rock/Art Rock)

Blackfield is a music group, a collaboration between Porcupine Tree founder and lead singer Steven Wilson and Israeli rock singer Aviv Geffen.

Origins: England & Israel
Genre(s): Progressive Rock, Art Rock
Years active: 2001-present

Site: www.blackfield.org

Members:
* Steven Wilson - lead vocals, lead guitar, additional keyboards (2001-present)
* Aviv Geffen - lead vocals, guitars, rhythm guitar, keyboards (2001-present)
* Seffy Efrati - backing vocals, bass guitar (2001-present)
* Eran Mitelman - backing vocals, piano, keyboards (2007-present)
* Tomer Z - drums, percussion (2004-present)

Former Members:
* Daniel Salomon - backing vocals, piano, keyboards (2001-2007)
* Chris Maitland - Live drums, percussion, backing vocals (2001-2004)


Blackfield is a music group, a collaboration between Porcupine Tree founder and lead singer Steven Wilson and Israeli Rock superstar Aviv Geffen.

Aviv Geffen is one of Israel’s premier pop musicians. A nephew of the late Moshe Dayan and the son of famous Israeli poet and playwright Yehonatan Geffen, Aviv has served as a leading voice for his generation of young Israelis since the early 1990s. Many of his songs have become classics of Israeli pop-folk music, and many are ballads with serious socio-political critiques. He was originally known for an androgynous appearance - reminiscent of David Bowie in his glam-rocker days – but has since distanced himself from that image.

Aviv Geffen discovered the music of Steven's band Porcupine Tree in the mid 90's and followed their career development.
In 2000 he invited the band to perform some concerts in Israel and met with Steven in London to discuss the idea. Something clicked and before long they had already collaborated on the very first Blackfield song. In 2001 the two met in a studio in Tel Aviv with the intention of recording a one-off EP. So pleased were they and the record company with the results however, that the EP originally scheduled for release in 2001 was cancelled and the decision was made to continue writing and recording with the aim of completing a full length LP.
Over the next 18 months the pair fitted in Blackfield writing and recording sessions whenever they could between their other commitments and finally in October 2003 the album was complete.

The collaborative songs alongside songs written by each separately brought a unique meeting of cultures, which resulted in a sophisticated, melodic and melancholic rock album.

The 10 track album was first issued by Helicon/Universal in Israel in February 2004 and spawned two huge hit singles in "Hello" and "Pain". The success of the album meant that the next step to making Blackfield a live band could be taken, and in February a 5 piece band version of Blackfield made their debut by performing on several prime time Israeli TV shows.

Aviv and Steven spent the rest of 2005 writing new material and working on their own projects, but in early 2006 Steven moved to Israel for 6 months to enable Blackfield to work on a new album. As on the first album both songwriters composed original songs for Blackfield, but also a few of Aviv's songs previously recorded in Hebrew as a solo artist were selected and translated into English. This time the record was made in one short burst of activity (unlike the sporadic sessions for the first album that spanned 2 years). Using the now established 5 piece Blackfield band line up, the resulting album Blackfield II has a stronger sense of direction and power, and is described as "a collection of 10 perfectly crafted songs of beauty and melancholia, combining great hooks, sweeping strings, explosive guitars, and lush vocal harmonies."

Wilson and Geffen recently recorded a follow up album, Blackfield II, released in February 2007 in Europe and March 2007 in the United States. In 2007, keyboardist Daniel Salomon left the band to continue his successful solo career. Salomon was replaced by Eran Mitelman, former keyboardist for popular Israeli hard rock band HaYehudim.


Discography

Albums:
2004 - Blackfield
2007 - Blackfield II

Singles:
2003 - Hello
2003 - Pain
2004 - Blackfield
2004 - Cloudy Now
2007 - Once
2007 - Miss U
2007 - My Gift of Silence