Shira Z. Carmel and her Brasserie

Carmel continues to prove herself as one of the most interesting musicians in the local music industry, 3 years of waiting for this album were worth the wait!

The opening “A matter of life and death” is not only a rich and vibrating jazz piece but also a declaration of intent – Carmel doesn’t accept the facts of life as they are, she asks questions and protests against them. Her sense of humor is almost always there and it’s gentle, evasive, almost concealed… Carmel seems to say that death isn’t the one to bother us, it’s rather life that we should be deal with.

...(“I AM LYSISTRATA") is a courageous well played song which is carried out exceptionally well.

...Carmel conveys very well the uselessness of the macho patriarchal coneptions that has les so many and will probably keep on leading many more here and abroad to their bitter end. - Lahiton Music Blog - Guy Tene

"Shira Z. Carmel and her Brasserie's new album flirts with jazz and cabaret and leaves many thought provoking open questions."
...
"one can claim that the thematic line that goes through the songs is the presence of death, but not as an opposition to life but rather as the natural continuation of life's dark matter...
Most songs tend towards the aesthetics of the subtle illustration which leaves an appealing and thought provoking residue at the bottom of Carmel and her Brasserie's album." - Haaretz newpaper (print & digital edition) - Ben Shalev

The Brasserie was created with love, something that remains clear in the album... it has feminism but also humor, philosophy - but one that also affects your emotions, and a combination between the quiet /intimate and the bursting-out /circus-like qualities. - Columbus Music magazine Ziporra Fischer

The Brasserie of Shira Z. Carmel (a third of [the vocal trio] "The Hazelnuts") is composed of 6 horn players and a drummer, and it rumbles of cabaret and jazz, thanks to the arrangements made by Orr Sinay.
You'll find many literature and poetry references here - an up to date adaptation to [the Greek play] Lysistrata, a poem composed into a song by poet Almog Behar and a musical interpretation to Robert Bly's poem, after which the album is named ("One Source of Bad Information"). There's also a Tom Waits cover - "Soldiers Things" from "Swordfishtrombones".
Despite this instrumental and intellectual complexity (you'll find plenty of songs about death here) the album feels "jammy" and light and the joy of music making blows through it like a storm.
9/10 - Haaretz (digital edition, music blog) Amir Ascher

Shira Z. Carmel from "The Hazelnuts" doesn't stop for a moment and releases a new album with a new big-band called "Brasserie" that smoothly hops between jazz and Balkan, and carries the distinct name "One Source of Bad Information". The Result – a strong and interesting feminine album. - Hadey Ozen music blog

(Hebrew) - Shira Z. Carmel - guest post in the politicallycorret feminism blog

(A review about Shira's previous band - the Shira Z. Carmel Quartet - SZCQ)

"
...Shira Z. Carmel's act is likely the best musical act in Israel today...
... Wednesday’s performance, which happened to be the best performance I’ve witnessed on this soil.

Music is difficult to describe in words, even if one resorts to references and comparisons. one could theoretically say that Carmel’s quartet hovers somewhere in the middle of a dodecahedron, whose faces include Tom Waits (in terms of presentation) Hava Alberstein (in terms of vocal intensity and folkish nuances) Frederick Chopin (in terms of musical mystery) Kurt Weill (in terms of elegant grit) the Soft Machine (in terms of Jazzy texture) Jolie Holland (in terms of folk-meeting-jazz and of hauntingness) Regina Spector (in terms of playfulness) and, say, the Pixies (in terms of rock-age liberty), but that would be to say nothing about it.
" - Yuval Ben-Ami - +972 Magazine