July 15, 2022, at Levontin 7, Tel Aviv. The lights were low, the stage sparse, the crowd leaning in. And that’s all ROI needed.
There was no overproduction, no spectacle—just Israel’s most important R&B artist taking command of the room with tone, timing, and unmistakable presence. ROI (Roei Edri) isn’t part of the scene—he leads it. He’s already made his name through performances on the country’s biggest platforms—state ceremonies, national holidays, international showcases—but here, in one of Tel Aviv’s most respected alternative venues, he stripped it all back and let the music speak.
Backed by Gaash on keys and Omer on guitar and electronics, ROI built each song from the ground up, blending neo-soul voicings, slow-burn harmonies, and loop-based textures into a set that felt both intimate and deliberate. The arrangement leaned heavily on live Rhodes-inspired keyboard pads, layered over subtle trap grooves and tight melodic phrasing, letting ROI’s vocals shine in their full dynamic range—from airy falsetto to low-end resonance.
Tracks like “Hella Vibes” and “Sleep at Night” showcased his control over melodic tension and vocal delay, while his upcoming songs hinted at deeper harmonic complexity and evolving lyrical direction. His phrasing was nuanced and conversational, with a looseness that recalled D’Angelo or early Miguel, yet rooted in distinctly Israeli cadences. He also reimagined classic Israeli ballads through a smooth R&B lens, pairing soulful chord extensions with a fresh rhythmic pocket. The covers of American R&B classics, meanwhile, weren’t copies—they were reinventions, flipped with ROI’s own harmonic vocabulary and phrasing.
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