- Cutting edge club music inspired by (and made from) religious masses in Egypt.
- ABADIR is a prominent figure in Cairo's bustling electronic music scene. Starting out as one half of the duo 04NB, he's earned well-deserved recognition for his solo work, including 2020's Liminal, 2021's Pause/Shutter/Uh/Repeat—an anthropological exploration of communication barriers, illustrating his versatility as an artist—and last year's Mutate, released on Shanghai label SVBKVLT. That one was a fiery concoction of footwork-jungle, dancehall and Egyptian maqsoum, his most club-ready record to date. On his newest for SVBKVLT, Ison, ABADIR revisits his childhood memories of Coptic, Syriac, Maronite, Greek Orthodox and Catholic services and choirs, and distorts them into a contemporary electronic mass.
In the accompanying release notes, ABADIR reiterates his stance against orientalist interpretations of his work. "This is not representational," he says. "This is not a cultural relic for the exoticizing gaze. This is purely personal, a fictional sound rooted in the present." The album begins with what feels like both a flashback and a dream. "Greeting, 6:40 pm" is a muddling of field recordings and vocals, welcoming the listener into the church of ABADIR's childhood, Basilique Notre Dame Catholic Church in Heliopolis, Cairo.
The blurring between memory and imagination is even starker on "Kyrie," which blends the mass recording into droning harmonies punctuated by airy synth notes and emphatic thuds. If "Greeting" feels like the threshold between wakefulness and sleep, "Kyrie" resembles a vivid dream during deep slumber. "The Seven Buildings Interlude" takes it to nightmare territory with its interplay of chiming bells, Eucharistic chants, and ethereal pads.
ABADIR still does what he does best: chopping up the source material into something unrecognisable and, more importantly, danceable. On the title track, choir vocals intersect with a pulsating mix of heavy kicks, basslines and sharp snares that alternate between poised anticipation and outbursts of energy. ABADIR’s signature mutation goes even further on "Agios O Theos," a suspenseful, celestial journey to an uncharted planet where agitated kick drums and resonating bells reign supreme. The best example is the climactic "The Syriac Club," which begins with a cascade of rattling percussion that gradually builds up to a whirlwind of broken beats and glitchy mass vocals.
Even when the album seems to reach an energetic point of no return, spiritual interludes interject as a reminder of the LP's core inspiration: solemn Eucharistic choirs. A hypnotic Maronite chant interrupts the chaos of rim shots, claps and chiming bells on "Mois de Marie," the artist’s tribute to his grandmother and the holy month of May. The longest track, "Holy Week," plays as an atmospheric intermission, a moment of pause and reflection akin to the resonating silence of religious readings that leave a lingering sense of wonder. "Dismissal" signals the end of this spiritual odyssey with an epic chant adorned with melodic riffs and firm keyboard notes that gently guide the listener back into the outer world.
Ison sees ABADIR constructing a fictional altar and composing new hymns for, marking his boldest foray into worldbuilding yet. The listener emerges from the experience of Ison as if having participated in a religious ritual, where the fusion of ethereal elements and pulsating rhythms opens a portal to a hyperreal space—a glitch in the matrix—where introspection is encouraged, and contemplation is inevitable, even amidst the chaos of cutting-edge club music.
Tracklist01. Greeting, 6:40 PM
02. Kyrie
03. Ison
04. Sacraments
05. The Seven Buildings Interlude
06. Agios O Theos
07. The Syriac Club
08. Mois de Marie
09. Holy Week
10. Dismissal