To celebrate the first day of Hanukkah, New York City songwriter Richard Spitzer is sharing the single "Jewish" with a new lyric video. The track is featured on Spitzer's new EP, Cry Wolf, released earlier this fall.
Discussing "Jewish" and the holidays, Spitzer stated, "The symbolism of Hannukah is the shining of candle light through the darkness. Even without enough oil to stay lit, it lasted eight nights and illuminated our revolutionary liberation.
This holiday has been celebrated for over a thousand years because much like 2020 we face gloom and deep dread. Is there light? Yes. Does it radiate brighter than we even realize? Yes.
Wherever it shines we commensurate its radiance. This is the resistance, this is triumph."
Spitzer was born in New York City into an Orthodox Jewish / Cuban family where music was a natural part of daily life. Salsa sounds at home against the somber bled into daily prayer at his Orthodox Hebrew Temple.
Richard found his way into performing at rave events at 16, following that path to pursuing a fine arts degree at SUNY Purchase College. There he studied studio composition with Phillip Glass, had songwriting classmates Regina Spektor, Dan Deacon, and won a contest to open for The Roots.
After school Richard had several New York City underground dance and indie projects such as Nite Club (Tape Theory, Blackbudget), Vinyl Life (Ultra Records, Star 69), and Hotels (Hidden Shoal). Under the name Little Star Dweller and Loveskills he created a unique style of pop music.
With a heavy appetite for DJ friendly sounds, modern R&B and indie radio alike, Loveskills' critically-acclaimed debut EP, Multiplicity, rose to the top of the charts on college radio stations across the U.S. And in 2015, Loveskills' EP Pure was nominated for 'Best Urban EP' at the Independent Music Awards.
After years as a performing artist across the U.S. and the world, Richard began to utilize his composing and production technique in commercial visual media for Bobbi Brown Cosmetics, Upright Citizens Brigade and had original music featured on NBC and MTV. Taking him down a new music path, leading him wanting to create material that felt more personal.
Born out of this year of crises, Cry Wolf was written as a way to calm relationship paranoia and his own Jewish anxiety.
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