BOSTON HERALD | JED GOTTLIEB | FEBRUARY 15, 2017

Posted February 17, 2017

At the close of the century, with a push from Morphine frontman Mark Sandman, Mike Rivard started his own thing: Club d’Elf, a strange and wonderful hybrid of global rhythms and trip-hop. Rivard’s “own thing” has grown into an evolving collective that is pushing 20 years.

While Rivard’s initial training was in upright bass and bass guitar (he still plays bass for the Boston Pops), he quickly fell under the spell of the sintir. He describes the North African instrument as the first bass, but it has a very different feel. Rivard offered to show me around the harmonic magic and eccentricities of the sintir ahead of his album release party at the Lizard Lounge on Friday.

If you like what you hear in the video, check out Club d’Elf’s new double-CD release “Live at Helsinki.” It features guitarist (and Guestlisted Guitar guest) Duke Levine, keyboardist John Medeski, DJ Mister Rourke, and cajon player and singer Brahim Fribgane.

grazia