Barbez, unclassifiable luminaries of the downtown New York music scene, weave a haunting mosaic of old-world cabaret, Eastern European folksong, contemporary classical and experimental rock into a uniquely beautiful and personal soundscape. The band’s mixture of passionate frenzy and unconventional lineup of clarinet, violin, vibraphone, electric guitar, bass and drums evokes a wide-range of disparate musical iconoclasts including Kurt Weill, the Montreal post-rock collective Godspeed You! Black Emperor, and the Russian composer Alfred Schnittke. Over the years, Barbez has been privileged to perform with a wide variety of artists including Cat Power, Sun Ra Arkestra, MC5, Devendra Banhart, the Dresden Dolls, and the Angels of Light.

Force of Light was released on John Zorn’s Tzadik label. The album was inspired by Paul Celan, the great Romanian-Jewish Holocaust poet and incorporates several of Celan’s finest poems into the band’s richly orchestrated musical tapestry.

“Barbez’s Force of Light is among the best of the year; it is sophisticated yet accessible to anyone, heartbreaking in its articulation, and provocative in its assertions.”–Allmusic.com (5 stars)

“Barbez provide a pitch-perfect soundtrack to the intelligentsia identity crisis.”–Pitchfork Media

“The most musically adventurous of the blooming ”˜ethno-punk-cabaret’ movement.”–The Washington Post