Amit Erez

Amit Erez () (born June 9, 1980 in Tel Aviv, Israel) is an Israeli musician best known for his work as a solo indie artist. as well as the guitarist for Israeli progressive art-rock band Eatliz.
Professional career
Amit Erez started writing music around the age of 16, but those songs in Hebrew didn't survive the test of time and since then Erez went on a different direction. Around 1998-1999 Erez started writing songs in English and sharing home recorded demos on the popular Israeli website Stage.co.il. These recording quickly created a buzz around him, Erez then befriended Omri Levy who worked at Fact Records and just at the time opened The Basement at Fact Records. Levy suggested Erez to collect his favorite tracks of these home recordings and release them as a full-length album. Amit Erez' first album Wish I Could Make It a Story was released in 2003 in limited amount of copies and was self distributed to music stores around Israel.
At the time Erez was performing either solo or with bassist Dave Bareket, Mainly at the Balcony club in Tel Aviv. In the end of 2003, Erez recorded a single with Bareket and Ran Jurgenson under the name The Trickstar Waterfall. The single, entitled "Come Get Your Love" also featured a b-side by the name of "Hazey Days" (sic). Another song Erez recorded by the name of "Oh My God" appeared on the compilation Songs from the Basement which was released in June 2004. The same year, Erez went to study music at the conservatory in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Erez returned to Israel in 2005 and upon returning was asked by Guy Ben Shetrit to join his band Eatliz as a third guitarist.
In 2005, Erez assembled a solo backing band for himself to back him up at his solo gigs who became from intimate acoustic shows with just Erez and an acoustic guitar to full bands shows. His solo band included his Eatliz co-members Or Bahir and Adam Scheflan on guitars, and bassist Dave Bareket as well as drummer Ran Jurgenson, both of whom Erez collaborated with in his early days as a solo artist.
In 2006, Erez released his second solo release, entitled Black Light EP. The EP was released on EarSay Records and featured only 5 songs. The same year, Erez joined as a backup guitarist to the solo backing band of his drummer Ran Jurgenson who also started playing solo. Also in 2006, a sampler of Anova Music was released and featured 3 songs by Erez, all three were covers: "My Will" originally by Minimal Compact, "Blue Moon" originally by Big Star and "Vogue" originally by Madonna (Together with fellow Anova artist Noa Babayof).
In 2007, Erez was signed to Anova Music and on December 11, 2007 released his second full-length album which was self-titled and recorded with his backing band. It was Erez' first album on Anova Music. Two singles were released from this album: "Postcard" and "Clever and Strong". The song "Highways" featured friend and later rising talent Rotem Or (Totemo) on vocals and the song "Appollio" featured Shlomi Shaban on Piano.
In 2008, Erez won the 7th annual Independent Music Awards Vox Pop vote for best best Folk/Singer-songwriter song "Postcard". He was invited to play at the Livorno Lovewave Festival in Italy along with his backing band. Later that year, Erez also played at the Popkomm conference in Berlin, Germany.
In April 2009, Erez released his first international release - Summer Conquered by Rain, a compilation of songs from his two previous albums and a new cover for Minimal Compact's "My Will". The compilation was only release digitally.
On June 1, 2009, Erez released his third full-length album Last Night When I Tried to Sleep I Felt the Ocean with My Fingertips, produced by Or Bahir. It saw an extensive use of keyboards, for the first time in any of Erez' albums. Amit's friend Rotem Or / Totemo was again featured, on the song "The Water Received". Two singles were released: "Secret Cards" and "Animal Heart". The album was also released in Germany and followed by a short solo tour there.
Upon return Amit formed the duo "Paper Cuts" with cellist Yael Shapira and together they've toured exstensively all across Israel performing songs from Amit's catalog in new "chamber" arrangements. An EP of selected tracks from their collaboration was released on January 10, 2010. Erez then took a break to unwind and focused mostly on Eatliz projects that included recording and touring in Europe and the United States.
By the end of 2010 Amit has begun work on new material with a new band: "Amit Erez & The Secret Sea", later shortened to "The Secret Sea". The band expanded his musical vocabulary to new heights with diverse, sprawling arrangements. It included Dave Bareket on bass, Shahar Haziza on drums, former "Paper Cuts" partner Yael Shapira on cello and backing vocals, Yoav Brill on keyboards and Noga Erez on backing vocals and percussions.
The band released Not About Us EP on June 20, 2012 with "Killing Light" as a single, and a highly praised self-titled debut album The Secret Sea a year later, on December 11, 2013, with "Not About Us" and "Afterlife" as singles. The album featured Rotem Or / Totemo once again on the song "Whenever The Sun Comes", and singer-songwriter Kami Maltz on autoharp on "Secret Sea".
The album was mostly self produced by the band as a collaborative, with some tracks produced by Ori Winokur. In May 2014 the band played in Barcelona's Primavera Sound festival. Soon afterwards Amit's contract with Anova ended and they parted ways. That band format of The Secret Sea had its last release with the independently produced single "Drug", on May 14, 2015. The single featured Doron Talmon (from "Jane Bordo") on vocals and percussion, replacing Noga Erez. Shortly afterwards Amit has decided to break up the band and leave Israel to pursue life in the states.
On April 17, 2015 shortly before leaving Amit released "Eifo Anahnu" ("where are we"), an EP in Hebrew with 5 songs. It featured Shahar Haziza on drums, Yael Shapira on cello, Bentzi Gafni and Dave Bareket on bass (DB on track 4), and Ishay Pitzion on keyboards. Most of the EP was recorded and mixed by Or Bahir except for the home recorded last song, and it was released only digitally and without PR through the small Israeli indie label "Soos". Around that same time Amit also produced a debut album for Israeli indie rock singer Rachel Yaron, that was eventually released by Soos as well, in September 2016.
In September 2015 Amit moved to Portland Oregon, keeping the name "The Secret Sea" as his stage name. On November 12, 2016 he released "Everest" that was recorded and mixed by legendary northwest audio engineer Larry Crane at Jackpot! Studio. It features Paul Pulvirenti (Elliott Smith, Eyelids) on drums and Gil Assayas (Glasys) on keyboards. Amit played guitars and bass and self produced the album. Also featured is Tucker Jackson on pedal-steel (on "A Place For You").
Musical influences
Amit Erez' music was influenced and compared many times to such folk and indie artists as Elliott Smith and Nick Drake. later influences include PJ Harvey, Sparklehorse, Owen Pallett, Interpol, Patrick Watson and Sufjan Stevens.
Discography
==="Amit Erez"===
*Wish I Could Make It a Story (2003)
*Black Light EP (2006)
*Amit Erez (2007)
*Summer Conquered by Rain (2009)
*Last Night When I Tried to Sleep I Felt the Ocean with My Fingertips (2009)
*Paper Cuts EP (2010)
*Eifo Anahnu EP (2015)
==="The Secret Sea"===
*Not About Us EP (2012)
*The Secret Sea (2013)
*Drug (single, 2015)
*Everest (2016)
w/ Eatliz
For a full discography, see Eatliz Discography
*Violently Delicate (2007)
*Delicately Violent (2009)
*Teasing Nature (2010)

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