Once again, there is the catchy groove and the distinctive melody that define the typical Shalosh sound. Once again, there is this three-piece compactness, which is already evident in the Hebrew "three" in the band's name. "An Israeli power trio. Heavy jazz!", the German Rolling Stone and the Times critic heard a "promise". Deutschlandfunk radio spoke of "jazz in the fast lane", which is once again reaching "young jazz fans throughout Europe". Each of the three musicians, who live close to each other in Tel Aviv, feeds their musical preferences of jazz, classical music, grunge, rock, techno or folk into the common organism, which condenses the elements into an exciting mixture. This has been further refined in inspiring concerts around the globe, without underchallenging the audience. This music targets the heart, intellect and legs in equal measure. It could have gone on like this, but a lot has changed since "Broken Balance" from 2020. "It's a different world," says Gadi Stern, "you can hear that on the new album. Back then, everything was fine, almost nothing was missing. Now there's a feeling of the end of the world." So they put their music, which has always been storytelling in sound, into a larger context. They came up with a story based on material from the Old Testament and the Odyssey. With their rhapsodic mixture of Christian and Greek mythology, they found a connection between world cultures and a common thread for their album. A young hero travels into the unknown. However, it is not only the outside world that is unknown, but also his own inner self. But every journey is also accompanied by self-assurance, which makes you stronger. "Tales of Utopia" is about how utopian thinking is based on preoccupation with one's own self, on concentration and meditation as an antidote to information overkill. Shalosh formulate their music as a place of refuge. In a crisis-ridden world, they want to give strength and comfort, inspire the imagination and provide support against the pandemic, tanks and slogans. As in a station drama, they create images of reaching the big city with its flood of new impressions in which the hero has to find his way, of being overwhelmed by the stimuli of the market with smells, colors and movements, of the dramatic departure from the metropolis at sunset, of the lurching boat on the ocean, of the three sisters on the island who look after the hero, their voices intertwining. The king's dreams are split in two amidst all the turbulence and stimulated by a bad advisor, until everything culminates in a happy ending in a Moroccan-inspired wedding song, where the band meets with friends in a room for a party with hand-clapping and singing." The framework of this ever-valid story is provided by the catchy Shalosh sound, into which they fitted the stories like a large painting, adapting the chronology of events to the musical flow. The recording process was different this time. Without headphones and amps, the three of them recorded their song-like and soggy stories close together as if they were live. It sounds rougher and more direct because the room was charged with dynamics. What was important was what the lyrics triggered musically. "In the room, we could escape the hustle and bustle of the world," recalls drummer Matan Assayag. "For three or four hours, we focused on the music and formulated our utopia. That way we could block out the daily pressures. That's the meaning behind the title. The previous album reflected the world outside, this one is about inner harmony." "Tales of Utopia" documents a search for attitude and peacefulness. Gadi and Matan have recently become fathers. This positive energy has also been incorporated. "Art makes the world a better place," is how they describe their intentions, "we want to bring beauty into the world and create a feeling that people can be happy with themselves. They have to learn this again and find a position alongside the flood of information so that more and more doesn't mean less and less. Our children were the best teachers because they are fascinated by small things. That's how you can overcome the destructive." There is more than the omnipresent pragmatism. This captivating and colorful music invites you to let yourself be enchanted and focus on the beauty all around you. To this end, it relies on a human factor that does not strive for perfection, but for contemplative freshness, friction and vitality.