Yeonathan Shachar is a Barcelona-based, Israeli-born guitarist and composer who has studied and recorded with his mentor, pianist and composer Walter Thompson, the creator of Soundpainting, the multidisciplinary live composing sign language  (Three Rats Dancing, 2024), and performs with local musicians such as sax player Liba Villavecchia. Appli’d Motion is Shachar’s debut full-length album as a bandleader, following the Soundpainting album, Yeonathan Shachar SP Ensemble (Self-Released, 2017), with local musicians.

Appli’d Motion features Shachar’s long-time Israeli comrade, double bass player Asaf Schori, local alto and tenor sax player Luis Erades, and drummer Soren Alcaraz. The album was recorded at La Isla in Barcelona in September and October 2025, and offers six of Shachar’s compositions.

Luis Erades’ clear adaptation of John Zorn’s sax aesthetics from the seminal Naked City, in the acrobatic and technically demanding pieces like «Heads-1» and «Of Beats Alone», puts Shachar in the awkward Bill Frisell position. Obviously, Shachar is well-versed in Frisell’s work, but he has his own sound that can be equally aggressive, spiky, and openly emotional. The ballad «Considerably Slower» and the contemplative «Shaka» highlight the immediate, deeply emotional impact of his reserved and effects-laden playing. «HBTN» suggests the immediate, rhythmic interplay of Shachar and Schori. The last piece, «Hill», is a solo guitar piece that returns to the Naked City legacy but from a completely different angle, now corresponding with Fred Frith’s imaginative explorations of the electric guitar and bass sonic palette, marking Shachar as a creative force worth following.

Eyal Hareuveni

Yeonathan Shachar (electric guitar), Luis Erades (alto saxophone, tenor saxophone), Asaf Shchori (double bass), Soren Alcaraz (drums)