The Handover

The Handover are a trio of Aly Eissa, Ayman Asfour and Jonas Cambien, their eponymous debut consisting of two epic side-long tracks, deeply immersive and absorbing, the nexus of some seriously fascinating and disparate sources: Arabic classical, rural Egyptian folk, Krautrock, psychedelia and improv. Recorded in Alexandria and available on vinyl and Bandcamp, it’s a superb and singular set, drawing on and drawing out from oud player Aly Eisser’s original compositions, with Asfour’s violin and Cambien’s mixed keys and synths laying out a musical cosmos of textures. It’s music you can all but reach out and feel and touch and climb into, wrapping it round you like some magic carpet, before defying the laws of physics and floating skywards. They use silence almost as a fourth group member, and throughout, the music’s subtleties, repetitions and climaxes are thrilling. It’s a limited-edition release that musical psychonauts should order from Sublime Frequencies without delay.