Wa

This really is like no other Middle Eastern recording you are likely to encounter and it is best to say from the outset that the overall sound of this album owes more to avant-garde, experimental electronica than anything traditionally Arab. Nevertheless, at risk of lapsing into cliché, this collaboration between one of Palestinian music's iconic performers and a Swiss electronic musician definitely does repay repeated listening. The pieces are best described as ambient soundscapes, with the voices and instruments heavily treated to create disturbing, dream-like textures.

On most tracks, Jubran's lyrics are intense and impressionistic and the ways that the voice is processed only adds to the sense of alienation; it is certainly useful to have the included translations to hand, as the poetry provides useful illumination in some of the more challenging moments. The nearest thing to a song, as such, to be heard here is the quasi-disco ‘Yama’ (He Sat); more Laurie Anderson than Donna Summer, it may be a good first step towards appreciating this dark and often puzzling work.