Music like Fool's Gold

Fool's Gold is an American musical collective that combines Western pop with African and Middle Eastern music. The group started as a side project of musicians Luke Top (a vocalist and bassist) and Lewis Pesacov (lead guitarist), who set out to explore their shared love of various forms of African music (specifically Congolese, Ethiopian, Eritrean and Malian), Krautrock, and 1980s dance influenced pop music.

The band was formed initially as a collaboration between Top and Pesacov in 2007. Top had immigrated to Los Angeles from Israel at age three and earned his B.A. in Music and Recording at SFSU. Pesacov earned a degree in classical music theory and composition while studying under American composers Mark Randall-Osborn and Franklin Cox. Joining their cultural and musical backgrounds, the two began writing songs together, many of which would eventually appear on their self-titled debut album in 2009.