Following a series of singles released throughout the year, Kareem Emad Gaber aka El Waili unveils his first project of 2024 with the third installment of his EP trilogy, ‘L Nor’.
The trilogy, with the first two volumes released last year in 2023, each featuring three tracks, delves into different facets of El Waili’s sound. The three volumes share the same album cover design, distinguished by varying colours - yellow, dark red and deep blue - each reflecting the sonic themes of their respective projects.
In this latest volume, El Waili's sonic identity remains consistent, as he avoids straying too far from his established style. The opener, 'Al Origami', is a thrilling blend of lo-fi shaabi that continues the themes of the trilogy's second volume, before transitioning into the calmness of 'La2'. El Waili introduces new compositional elements on the deeply soothing track 'La2', where melancholy is the dominant mood, expressed through elongated string and synth sections juxtaposed with El Waili’s distinctive percussion.
'Hekaya' serves as a climactic conclusion to the trilogy, where complex arrangements intertwine with distorted synth inserts, culminating naturally as the sonic elements come together.
While the EP solidifies El Waili’s distinctive sound - a style he has honed since his breakthrough earlier this decade - it also suggests that his music might be somewhat confined within a specific sonic framework, though it remains faithful to the trilogy’s thematic and sonic elements.
