Kenneth Ishak

Silver Lightning From A Black Sky is the product of Norwegian Kenneth Ishak and his experiences through over 10 years of touring and recording both solo and with his old band Beezewax. 5 band albums, 2 solo albums, countless tours that brought him everywhere from South-East Asia, to the US, to Japan and of course Europe. From handmade record sleeves to major-label release.

He’s band was hailed as the Norwegian Posies, Teenage Fanclub and even Replacements, but his two first solo albums brought him first to early Elliott Smith and Stereo/Mono era Paul Westerberg, and then to Jim O’Rourke and a bedroom version of the Flaming Lips along with a dash of Lemonheads. Silver Lightning From a Black Sky brought him closer to him self, his roots and his record collection.

It might be easier to say what it doesn’t sound like, but i’ll try to sum up all of the influences here. You’ve got some classy and lush orchestrated folk-pop that will send your thoughts towards Judee Sill and Nick Drake, a couple of songs that Neil Young would be proud of. There also some soul-rock that sounds like Ted Leo being produced by Curtis Mayfield, like on the anthemic “Don’t Touch My Brother” where Kenneth deals with growing up and living with multi-ethnic heritage (being half Norwegian and half Malay). There’s also the ever so present Elliott Smith and Evan Dando influences, and some song arrangements that sound like a 70s soundtrack with that special kind of french feeling. And it all fits perfectly and strangely together, so well that it actually earned him a nomination to the Norwegian Grammy and two radio-hits.

So here it is, Silver Lightning From a Black Sky, Kenneth Ishak’s third solo album. And as allways, Kenneth Ishak is planning to pack his bags and guitar and play as many shows around the world as possible. Both large venues and small living rooms. So keep your eyes and ears open, and prepare yourself for Kenneth Ishak and his Silver Lightning From a Black Sky”.

Reviews in norwegian:

5/6 “Ishak skriver nydelige og elegante sanger, med harmonier og stemninger som kan få selv den mest hardhudede til å smelte.(…) For dette er nesten perfekt.”
VG

5/6 “Det platekjøpende Norge er herved varslet: Denne er det regelrett teit å gå glipp av.”
LYDVERKET (NRK 1 og P3)

5/6 “Dette er en plate det tok meg et par uker å virkelig sette pris på, men etter hvert har sang etter sang tatt steget fram fra halvmørket og vist seg fram. Bare hør nyansene han klarer å legge inn i en tre minutter lang låt som «SÖS».”
STAVANGER AFTENBLAD

”I boken om norske genier er det plass til flere linjer om Kenneth Ishak.”
DAGENS NÆRINGSLIV

“Uten svake øyeblikk, aspirerer “Silver Lightning From A Black Sky” så definitivt til tittelen ÅRETS NORSKE ALBUM!”
PULS.NO

“Popsølv. Den perfekte, krystallklare stemmen og de treffende utleveringene. Kenneth Ishak har alltid rørt ved perfeksjonismen når han har spilt inn sangene som har bygd hans allerede imponerende karriere. Jeg tror rett og slett mannen har skrevet sine beste låter, så langt. Og artisten Kenneth Ishak har definert seg selv så godt, at det ikke burde være noen tvil lenger.”
GROOVE.NO

Interview in norwegian: http://www.spirit.no/musikk/kenneth-ishak-intervju.html