The Cliffs

After a short solo career in Israel that included radio air play and shows around the country, Ilay Ron, the founding Member of The Cliffs, moved to New York. In December 2005, Ilay met with producer Evan Moore who had an interest of creating an EP for The Cliffs. Meeting occasionally every few months, they began working on songs to be included in the EP. By that time The Cliffs played New York promoting the upcoming EP, and in June 2006, "Ordinary Eyes" was released.
With the release of the EP, The Cliffs were accepted to the 2006 MEANY festival and were reviewed by "Infuse", a British web magazine. The band continued playing live shows at venues such as CBGB, the Continental, Arlene's Grocery, Lion's Den and many more.
By October of 2006, despite many setbacks and lineup changes, The Cliffs had begun recording their first full length LP, Clear the Sky with producer Allison Kruth at the NYU studios. Their debut album was released 7/7/07. The lineup had also solidified into its present form with Ilay singing and guitar, Ashton on bass and Joe on the drums.
The Cliffs music deals with daily issues such as love, hate, self identity, growing up through war, peace, life, and death. Ron's lyrics talk about issues that have a direct impact on his life and surroundings. For instance, the song Dirty Sand is a plea for the world to wake up to the issues that our environment faces. While not a political band, The Cliffs feel this is an important topic that must be addressed.
The Cliffs don't really like to be classified in a specific category. If you ask them to describe themselves they would simply answer that they are an alternative rock band with a good old 90's rock atmosphere. With a debut album on the way, The Cliffs are ready for their next step towards recognition in the music world. Getting back on tour they hope to bring their original sounds to their old and new fans.
Ordinary Eyes - Live
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Press Kit photos by: Claudia Mandlik © 2008
Ordinary Eyes 2006 EP images by Michael Vesen at:
Michael Vesen © 2005 Michael Vesen
Clear The Sky debut album images by Mathilde Delaunay at:
Mathilde Delaunay © 2006 Mathilde Delaunay
our first review by: Infused
The Cliffs make the sort of music that seems effortless and uncomplicated. It doesnt follow any trends but yet has a fresh appeal to it. Whilst being influenced by 90s bands such as Nirvana and Soundgarden, theyve still managed to create their own musical world.
At the start of Ordinary Eyes its like the guitar sounds are coming out of a distant place before some haunting vocals kick into play. The vocal range of the lead singer is impressive and he definitely has quite a unique sound to his voice, a huge bonus in the music industry. The song really builds and gets quite rocky, the guitars really driving and the drums thrusting you along.
Theres quite a dark gothic rock vibe to Stand, images of movies like Queen of the Damned spring to mind. Theres definitely an atmosphere created by the way the instruments are arranged and the interplay between all the different sounds. The vocals fit well with this powerful sound, creating a chilling and dramatic song.
In the dark starts with strong vocals and acoustic guitar; though it soon becomes clear that this is not an unplugged number. Theres wonderful balance as the electric guitars and drums drive in and impressively the vocals cope easily with the loud sound. Theres a relatively relaxed feel to the sound at times in this tune and the rhythm never sounds forced, I love when the bigger sound stops and the guitars create a nice little rolling break before the vocals come back in. I also like the more trippy guitars at the end and the only wish I had was that the song lasted a bit longer.
Gently floating keys bring you into Eyes Closed before the guitars swagger into play. The repetitive vocals and guitar get stuck in your head and as the song builds you really get hooked into the rhythm. Theres a good variety of guitar riffs used throughout the tune and its another song that has quite a dark feel to it at times, with vocals and instruments working perfectly together once more.
With an impressive sound found from these four tracks, I really enjoyed every song. Again, really stunning vocals and range coming through; I look forward to hearing much more from this band!