ASAP Inşallah

For the past dozen years, the electronic music duo Zuzu Zakaria & Tatu Metsätähti have intrigued with their raw blend of unpolished street sounds, heavy electronic beats, traditional Caucasus instruments and the Finnish skweee style that mixes chiptune with funk, R&B and soul rhythms. Zakaris is the Norwegian-Azerbaijani singer with swirling vocals and an ethnomusicologist background; whilst Metsätähti, aka Mesak, takes care of production, mixing, arrangements and programming. Together, they’ve gone down a treat in the Berlin and Helsinki underground scenes. Their first album, 2017's Love Party (Asphalt Tango Records), did not disappoint – but these ten tracks do. Well, arguably, the first ones which flatter to deceive with predictable pop-like arrangements. ASAP Inşallah then takes off as Zakaria's daring use of meykhana Azerbaijani improvisational wedding music plays off Mesak's microtonal electric guitars and electronic hardware. Singing lyrics directly from Azerbaijani poetry and texts, Zakaria mirrors an underlying tension in her homeland, what she equates to “doing yoga in a war zone.” The results become enticing when the Oriental textures feature taut vocal loops and reflect a fresh yet dystopian clash between tradition and modernity. Too bad the whole seesaws erratically between the kitsch and the audacious.