David Israel Won’t Be Commodified

David Israel describes his latest collection as contemplation of the modern American experience. “If we are connected by nothing else,” he offers in the album’s press release, “we are united by our current division.”

Little surprise, then, that “Car Commercial” initially strikes the listener as a love song, then veers down a road of existential and social rumination in a deep, reassuring baritone before lamenting the impossible love of fake people on reality TV.

“Well, you want a nice car/ And you like to drive/ Drive away until you see the edge/ The edge of what you can not control.”

“To me, [‘Car Commercial‘] is about the commodification of love and the way desire sells products, like diamonds, for instance, or, well, cars,” explains the preschool teacher/musician via email. “It’s not a new concept, loving technology that can’t and won't love you back, but it’s pervasive these days: empty promises, self-driving cars, and finding love in these modern times.”

The Year That Felt Like Two, arriving next month on ATH Records, spins 10 tracks of guitar-based songwriter pop with a strong motor and contemplative lyrics that should appeal to fans of Car Seat Headrest. For his sophomore LP and fourth overall release, the Austinite recorded with Michael Landon at Estuary Studios with his Israelites rhythm section of Julia Hungerford (John Wesley Coleman III, Abigail Und Hansel) and Stephen Svacina (Sweet Talk, Missing Pages).

“Car Commercial” is streaming. Don’t change the channel: