Singer-songwriter pays tribute to his deceased father

Evan Malach
Evan Malach

On a spiritual journey that took him to Israel after his father’s death, singer-songwriter Evan Malach wrote some of the songs on his new double English and Hebrew rock CD, recorded with a Grammy-winning producer.

While learning at Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Darche Noam (also known as Shapell’s) in 2012, Malach wrote Ben, a song that eulogizes his father, Howard.

“I think about him all the time,” Malach said about the man who took him to his first rock concert, to see the Steve Miller Band.

Malach will be performing songs from this album at Jewish Music Week which starts May 29.

At the yeshiva, Malach gleaned some insights into songwriting from his study of the Talmud. “When you are learning a piece of Talmud, so much information is packed into so few words. I think that’s what make strong songwriting as well, evoking a lot from a little,” he said.     

That summer, Malach, whose voice and singing style resembles Bruce Springsteen’s, won the international Hallelujah Global Jewish Singing Contest for his rendition of Blues Kna’ani, which set him on the path to singing in Hebrew.

Malach, 31, studied Hebrew while attending Leo Baeck Day School and the Community Hebrew Academy of Toronto. Mark Levinson and his son, Shakhai worked with Malach on translating the Hebrew songs on the CD, When All Is One.

READ: JAZZ SINGER’S SONGS TAKE LISTENERS ON A JOURNEY

Ben, Malach’s meditative tribute to his father, has a Hebrew version, as do Save the World (Geulah), a rocker about redemption; The One (Ha’Echad), a spiritual rocker about overcoming doubt; Graceful Rose (Shoshana), a love song Malach wrote while sitting on the rooftop of the yeshiva, and The Reason (Ha’Ya’ad), about recognizing the mistakes of past relationships and trying to learn from them. With help from Cantor Benjamin Maissner, the music director of Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple, Malach perfected the Hebrew vocals for the CD.    

Comparing Malach’s new 17-track release to his 2012 CD, Along the Endless Highway, Malach’s guitarist, Rich Grossman, in a video about the making of When All Is One, said, “There’s definitely more of a spiritual vibe in these songs. It’s more of a grounded project this time round… As opposed to taking different parts of his life and putting it together to make one record, there’s a vision.”

Malach and his band recorded When All Is One last November with Grammy-winning producer Malcolm Burn, who’s worked with Emmylou Harris, Daniel Lanois and Bob Dylan. Malach met Burn, who also produced his 2012 recording, serendipitously, through Arzhang Ardavan, a physics professor with some cool friends, who came to a garage sale Malach held.

In the video about the making of When All Is One, Burn said he “enjoys creating something that perhaps the artist themselves hasn’t envisioned.” As an example of Burn’s work, Malach said the producer helped turn his folk song, The Mirror, an allegory about Adam and Eve, into an “’80s New Wave evocative song.”

Malach’s main influences are Dylan, Neil Young and  Springsteen. Malach has studied Springsteen’s videos and has performed some of those songs, including My City of Ruins, which he cited as an influence on his songwriting.

“It’s so easy to access performance now,” he said. “It’s almost this natural, organic way of absorbing as an artist, emulating that in a way that’s authentic to yourself, and creating your own style around it.”


Malach and his band, guitarist Grossman, bassist Tyler Emond and drummer Jeremy Kleynhans, perform both Hebrew and English tracks from When All Is One on June 2 at 7 p.m. at the Lula Lounge as part of Jewish Music Week. The Shinshinim, singing Israeli pop hits, open the show.