Your Source for NPR News & Music
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

Song Premiere: Asaf Avidan, 'Over My Head'

Singer, Asaf Avidan
Dudi Hasson
/
Courtesy of the artist
Singer, Asaf Avidan

Earlier this year I heard a voice like no other. In fact, when I heard the song "Different Pulses," I was sure it was a woman. I imagined someone like Janis Joplin. But the singer, the young Israeli Asaf Avidan, is the man in the photo above. He's well known back home and in Europe — an unauthorized remix of "One Day/Reckoning Song" has fifteen million views on YouTube. When he came to the U.S. earlier this year I asked him to perform at my desk. The Tiny Desk Concert with just him and guitar was spellbinding.

Now there's new music by Asaf Avidan for the first time since his 2012 album Different Pulses, an album that never officially came out here in the U.S. It's still amazing to me that people don't know him here.

This new song, called "Over My Head," was written in Paris one sleepless night, a night five years ago that sparked a relationship between Avidan and his life partner. "It was the night when I put my old demons to sleep, and decided to choose life," Avidan writes. "'Til this day I'm amazed that she had the patience for my stupidity, and this is my way to say thank you ... thank you for leaving the door open."

"Over My Head" is from a new album, Gold Shadow, set for release in early 2015.

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

In 1988, a determined Bob Boilen started showing up on NPR's doorstep every day, looking for a way to contribute his skills in music and broadcasting to the network. His persistence paid off, and within a few weeks he was hired, on a temporary basis, to work for All Things Considered. Less than a year later, Boilen was directing the show and continued to do so for the next 18 years.
Related Stories