Adar Alfandari – Gold Dust (2020)
The Japanese art of repairing broken pottery, also known as Kintsugi, involves the mending of breakage with lacquer mixed or dusted with powdered gold. While the pottery is repaired, the catch is the gold lacquer leaves small lines throughout the item showing where the original cracks were. Philosophically, this reparation is treated as part of the object’s history rather than disguising the damage – a message Adar Alfandari presents in his latest single ‘Gold Dust’.
Following his acoustic single ‘How I’m Gonna Make You Mine’, which we reviewed here, Alfandari releases an upbeat, catchy track with some more “oomph” than before. Once again, a guitar-driven track, Alfandari demonstrates his superb finger-picking technique alongside steady drums. What is most intriguing is how the pace and power of instrumentation alters between verses and chorus to bring home the pain of being broken to the listener.
It is not only the rise and dip in instrumentation that makes ‘Gold Dust’ moving, but Alfandari’s change in tone and pitch. Beginning with simple vocals Alfandari builds a narrative of loss and trauma, but when he hits the chorus the rise in his voice exposes a raw honesty and desperation. Poignant, sombre and rather deflating, ‘Gold Dust’ can be construed as a song of hopelessness and tragedy; however, Alfandari mentions being repaired despite his heart still being broken. Is this mild sense of optimism within a sea of despair? Possibly…even if it isn’t ‘Gold Dust’ is an emotional masterpiece.
For more from Adar Alfandari check out his Facebook, Instagram and Spotify.
