Cherie And Renno are a musical and romantic duo from Tel Aviv, Israel. Both Cherie (vocalist/keyboardist/food enthusiast Shiri Hadar) and Renno (vocalist/violist/songwriter Ran Shem Tov) were founding members of eclectic Israeli quartet Izabo, which released three critically acclaimed albums and represented its country in the 2012 Eurovision Song Contest before disbanding. The as-of-yet-untitled debut LP from Cherie And Renno—which is rounded out by drummer Amir Bresler—will be out stateside March 2, but today we have a sneak peak via the video for album track “Cookie Stars.” As you’ll see and hear, the band’s unique sound is due primarily to Shem Tov’s instrument: a homemade, electronic, multi-synth viola that he’s been customizing for years. (Watch an interview with this drunken diva of an instrument here.) We’re proud to premiere the video for “Cookie Stars” today on magnetmagazine.com. Says Hadar of the clip, “We live in an old neighborhood that constantly gets trendier, attracting lots of rich people and tourists, so it’s a super-valuable piece of land for the municipality to take care of. As a result, our street is being renovated for over three months. I grew a close friendship with the workers, so we live and work together in a harmony of noise, noise, noise and dirt, dirt, dirt. One day we said hi. They looked worried, then delivered a message: ‘We’re gonna be digging right under your window tonight and tomorrow night.’ It was my bedroom’s window and the last thing I needed. But we’re friends, so in less than five minutes, we all agreed that it’s gonna make a perfect scenario for a video. So we’ll be working these nights together, filling these sleepless noisy nights with our kind of noise. We played in the middle of the street, so the neighbors weren’t happy and we had only a few shots of this spontaneous collaboration. Anyway, we all enjoyed that night from the municipality’s contribution to the urban renewal.” Food, folks and fun—what more do you need?
