Rubi Ate the Fig - Desert Electric (2025) [Official Digital Download 24/96]

Discerning listeners might recall me waxing lyrical about last year’s album Gilgamesh from Rubi Ate The Fig – an intriguing fusion of rock guitar and the Middle East, sold with the irresistible tag of “Led Zeppelin and Mahavishnu travelling through the desert, stopping to have tea with Grace Slick” – it certainly worked its exotic charms on me! Think of Zep’s classic Kashmir – particularly the subsequent Plant / Page reworking on the album No Quarter – and you begin to get the flavour of this band. We now have the band’s (sort of) follow-up full-length production, Desert Electric, released through UltraMarine Records. Let me explain…

Desert Electric has been over five years in the making and was originally written and recorded in Pasadena, LA. The making was a troubled one, disaster striking when producer and engineer Rich Mouser’s studio (where they were recording) was completely lost in the LA fires last year – taking with it the master tapes for the original version of Desert Electric, a limited release in 2022….so it was back to square one. The band have since picked up the pieces and spent this past year finalizing the “reconstructed” album. This explains why six of the nine songs contained here have previously appeared in some form.

It has most definitely been worth the wait! The nine songs on the album have been structured to tell a coherent tale, with overarching themes of love, sex and death blending with a superb musical/cinematic take on the Sinai desert and the lives of the Bedouins who inhabit that exotic land. Rubi Ate The Fig actually hail from the good ol’ US, although you’d never think that, and I believe they were formed around 2016. Their music is built around a middle-eastern core and groove, complete with sumptuous, mystical lyrics and exotic harmonies, rhythms and arrangements – and punctuated by some tasty out-and-out rock guitar work. They aim to transport the listener to another (hotter!) world, and they certainly succeeded with me.

The seven piece outfit is led by singer, composer and guitarist Sharon Eliashar, born in Jerusalem but raised in the low desert of California. Sharon has studied Middle-Eastern music, classical composition, and has spent much of her time with the Bedouins of the Sinai Desert, who became a profound source of inspiration for her music and evocative lyrics. The band also features the considerable talents of guitarist and keyboards star Marc Mann, whose work with George Harrison, Jeff Lynne, ELO, Oingo Boingo and System of a Down provides the heavier rock influence to the proceedings.

Added to these two the talents of Rich Mouser, a guitar driven rocker and respected prog rock engineer who has worked with artists that include Tom Petty, Chris Cornell, Dream Theatre, Tears For Fears and Spock’s Beard; Ali Paris, who plays the quanun (a middle-eastern 76-string zither); Polly Tapia Ferber, a hand percussionist majoring on the dumbeq (persian drum), frame drum and riqq (a sort of tambourine); Miles Jay, an experienced bassist, cellist, composer and producer having worked around the world combining instruments from the Mediterranean, Middle East and East Africa to re-imagine and create new sounds; and Danny Montgomery, a drummer from San Francisco who has recorded and performed with Percy Sledge, Ray Charles, Billy Paul, Mose Allison, Taj Mahal, Jack Sheldon, Johnette Napolitano and Jerry Harrison. The word “eclectic” doesn’t begin to do these guys sufficient justice!

Tracklist:
01. Breathe With Me Slowly (3:36)
02. Gilgamesh (4:02)
03. They Came with Stones (3:22)
04. Caress the Moon (4:31)
05. Your Story (3:53)
06. The Tent (6:26)
07. In the Garden (4:38)
08. Tremor (5:25)
09. Flight (4:02)


Thanks to the Original customer!