Passed Over by Matt Jasper

Matt Jasper Explores Diaspora, Devotion, and Defiance in Concept Album Passed Over

Out April 4, 2023 via For The Records

Matt Jasper’s Passed Over is a bold and moving concept album that fuses traditional Jewish Klezmer with protest music and global folk influences to tell the story of a Passover seder as a reflection of both historical and contemporary displacement. Released through For The Records on April 4, 2023, Passed Over is not only a musical journey through the rituals of Passover but also a deeply personal meditation on Jasper’s Ukrainian heritage and a call for diasporic solidarity amid the onset of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The album is accompanied by a corresponding Haggadah, inviting listeners to participate in an immersive, reimagined Passover experience.

Drawing inspiration from Jewish musical traditions and modern Klezmer artists such as Joey Weisenberg, The Klezmatics, and Shpilkis, Passed Over traverses themes of oppression, resilience, and renewal. Jasper’s arrangements blend ancient melodies and folk modalities with layered instrumentation and vocal arrangements that echo both sacred traditions and political urgency. Through songs like “Ten Plagues of Yesterday and the Present War” and “Next Year in Kyiv,” the album extends the Passover narrative beyond the biblical exodus into today’s struggles for freedom and belonging.

At once spiritual and subversive, Passed Over is an evocative offering for fans of Jewish holiday music, world music, and socially conscious songwriting. Each track corresponds to a stage of the seder—“Order of Operations,” “Washing of the Hands,” “Bitter, Part 1: Greens”—unfolding with meditative pacing, ritualistic repetition, and a spirit of protest and hope. Jasper performs and engineers every track himself, contributing vocals, banjo, bass, drums, piano, and trombone to an album that is as intricate as it is intimate.

“The seder is a ritual of memory and meaning—it remembers exodus, but it also asks: What does liberation look like now? For me, as a Jewish artist of Ukrainian descent, Passover became a framework to process both ancestral trauma and modern injustice. This album is a musical seder and a protest liturgy. I wanted to honor the old songs while making space for the stories unfolding in our own time.” — Matt Jasper

Passed Over is now available on all streaming platforms and for download at mattjasper.com. The companion Passed Over Haggadah is also available digitally and in print for seder hosts and music lovers alike.

Track Listing:

Order Of Operations

Drinking Song, Part 1

Washing of the Hands, Part 1

Bitter, Part 1: Greens

Breaking Bread of Affliction, Part 1

Passed Over, Part 1

Four By Four

Passed Over, Part 2

Ten Plagues of Yesterday and the Present War

Drinking Song, Part 2

Washing of the Hands, Part 2

Breaking Bread of Affliction, Part 2

Bitter, Parts 2 and 3: Herbs and Mortar

Festive Meal Interlude

Breaking Bread of Affliction, Part 3

Drinking Song, Part 3

Drinking Song, Part 4: Miriam's Well and Elijah's Cup

Next Year In Kyiv

All songs written, performed, recorded, mixed, and mastered by Matt Jasper.

Matt Jasper is a multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer residing in Seattle, WA. He uses lo-fi recording techniques to generate high volumes of orchestral pop songs about complex emotions. While the majority of his music output is through this solo project, past bands include "Red Electric", NJ based alt-rock; "Jasper", NYC based power-pop trio; & "Radio Soaps", Seattle alt-country trio.

mattjasper.com