One of the most spine-tingling recent rock albums has roots going back 3,000 years to the ancient folk magic of the Near East. Charming Hostess draws many of its lyrics from ancient Jewish texts, their images of a leviathan in the boundless deep and the firmament overhead powerfully sung by Jewlia Eisenberg in the voice of an avenging Lilith.
The Bowls Project opens with “Bird of Rivers,” an oceanic torrent of klezmer King Crimson, followed by “Bound and Turned Aside,” a heavy-metal incantation against evil fleshed out by knife-sharp violins and viola. Charming Hostess also connects with the mystic undercurrents of other cultures. The Childe ballad “Hangman” is transposed to the nasal tones of Appalachia and given a sinister rock arrangement, while the traditional blues of “Dying Bed” races in a country rock shuffle with snaky guitar, probably by guest star Marc Ribot.
