Search - Pharaoh's Daughter :: Daddy's Pockets

Somewhat fragile debut.

Michael Stack | North Chelmsford, MA USA | 07/09/2007

(3 out of 5 stars)

"The debut record of Basya Schecter's Pharaoh's Daughter, "Daddy's Pockets" has that feeling of foreshadowing and incompleteness, from the demo look to the artwork to the general thinness of sound-- while the band would go on to become a magnificent fusion of Arabic, Western and Jewish traditions, "Daddy's Pockets" comes off more like Mid-East slanted folk music.



At its best, the Schecter's acoustic guitars swirl with Martha Colby's cello (a dominant voice in the music lost in future releases) and form an odd groove-- Schecter's songwriting is already full formed and her vocals, laced in the sounds of Jewish and Middle Eastern traditions, are downright effecting ("In a Box"). And the oddly funky grooves that seem to emerge on the record ("Niggun", "Daddy's Pockets") certainly make the music captivating. Having said that, there's a lot of music here that's a bit non-discript ("Snowball") or while fairly engaging, is pretty much a straight Mid-East style song ("Mosquito").



Admittedly, "Daddy's Pockets" is not quite a fully formed record-- it feels like a demo for a project. Pharaoh's Daughter would go on to extraordinary things, this feels like a peek into the beginning."