[Cover photo credit to David Zimand]
Indie Folk trio Distant Cousins has recently released their six-track EP, Out of the Darkness. The new EP marks a shift in style and subject matter for the group. Inspired by the attacks on October 7th in Israel, the band decided to create a record that focuses on healing in the Jewish community.
Ami Kozak says:
In the past, we created music outside of the religious music world, but this was a conscious decision to put our Jewish identity first.
The songs on Out of the Darkness are Distant Cousins’ first to use a combination of Hebrew and English with many of the direct quotes from The Psalms. The texts and interpretations are integrated into the band’s Indie-Folk sensibility.
Dov Rosenblatt says:
The album’s main message is hope and healing. We are stepping ‘out of the darkness’ and into the light, with the songs being the pathway.
Duvid Swirsky shares:
We have always aimed to write music that is universal and open—and I don’t feel these songs are any different. But the inspiration for Out of the Darkness comes from an intimate place, as we were writing to comfort each other during this time of intense upheaval. Emotions were raw but it was also the beginning of the healing process the three of us have gone through, and we finally feel ready to share that so that others can feel it too.
The title of the EP comes from the third track “Me’Ayin” with the lyric, “Out of the darkness, out of the tears, out of the place where songs begin.” The song represents “resilience, faith, and triumph of the human spirit.”
Following the release of Out of the Darkness, Distant Cousins are going on an East Coast tour with Matisyahu.
ON TOUR WITH MATISYAHU
August 22, 2024 – Marshfield, MA – Levitate Backyard
August 23, 2024 – Canandaigua, NY – Lincoln Hill Farms
August 25, 2024 – North Stonington, CT – Jonathan Edwards Winery
August 27, 2024 – Wilmington, NC – Greenfield Lake Amphitheater
August 28, 2024 – Isle of Palms, SC – The Windjammer
August 29, 2024 – Asheville, NC – Asheville Music Hall
