fool's gold

Fusing African and Middle Eastern elements with a subtle trace of guitar-driven Western pop, the Los Angeles-based world-pop ensemble Fool's Gold crafts sounds that match the sparkling allure of its name while remaining wholly sincere. Luke Top, handling bass and vocals, and Lewis Pesacov lead the project; both Israelis by birth, they relocated to Los Angeles during childhood. Though anchored in the city, the band functions as an international collective whose eight-to-twelve members trace roots to Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and Israel, incorporating three-quarters of Pesacov's indie-rock group Foreign Born along with former participants from the Fall and We Are Scientists. Top contributes lyrics in Hebrew and English, a wailing saxophone section supplies further texture, and an assortment of handmade and globally sourced percussion instruments deepens the multicultural character. The founders' enduring fascination with world music most strongly shapes the overall approach, particularly their engagement with Congolese soukous, Ethiopian and Eritrean traditions, and Tuareg desert blues—genres that, they have noted, themselves drew partial influence from Western sources. Top, of Russian and Iraqi descent, and Pesacov, whose training encompasses classical composition studies in Berlin alongside American expatriates, first crossed paths at a San Fernando Valley summer camp when both were ten and have collaborated musically ever since. In 2006 they launched Fool's Gold, drawing on an early impulse to merge African and Western pop idioms through a cluster of swiftly composed joint pieces and jam sessions that soon yielded casual performances at barbecues and backyard gatherings open to any willing participant. Within several years the roster stabilized long enough to produce the self-titled, self-produced debut album recorded in 2008 and issued the next year on IAMSOUND Records. Shortly afterward multiple members departed, leaving the remaining musicians to continue as a conventional five-piece that delivered the 2011 follow-up Leave No Trace.