Egyptian producer and musician Dijit just dropped an experimental drill/trap LP ‘Wisswas’ with Bristol-based record label Accidental Meetings. Drawing inspiration from his personal life and the bustling city of Cairo where he grew up, ‘Wisswas’ - true to its moniker - sees Dijit experimenting with different sounds as he navigates the emotional labyrinth of his intrusive thoughts, and his experience as an artist in the diaspora. Co-produced with Brodinski, the nine-track LP’s versatile sound seamlessly weaves Dijit’s trip-hop style with elements from grim, drill and wayward samples of folk music.
Through introspective lyricism, heavy noisy textures, brooding guitar riffs, dark melodies and distorted vocals on tracks like ‘Khazna’, ‘Sarkh’, ‘Do Ko’ and ‘Shitan’, Dijit paints a complete picture of his inner turmoil. It’s vulnerable, raw and hauntingly startling at its best - a culmination of his personal experiences over the last five years. “I think about music more as images, a kind of visual art, where each track is a scene, and every sound is a character in that narrative,” Dijit tells SceneNoise.
Besides being Dijit’s debut with the UK-based record label Accidental Meetings, the LP also marks the first time the Cairo-born artist incorporated his vocals on one of his releases. “‘Wisswas’ is that morbid voice in my head, that’s like some higher evil power, pushing me in a direction far from what I would normally take,” he says. “So, I tried to capture that constant push and pull I have with that voice through the lyrics and music.” The LP also meditates on universal themes like love, pain and emotionally-taxing relationships, on tracks such as ‘Layali El Shouk’, a melancholic post-heartbreak track featuring wispy vocals by Egyptian rising songstress Lella Fadda accompanied by an emotive ambient melody.
The theme is also present in ‘Kharab’, which features Sara Shedid softly singing against the backdrop of Dijit’s poignant synths and slow-tempo mourning drum patterns.
