They’ve done it again. After finally breaking their seven-year hiatus last February and sending long-time fans into a frenzy with recent release ‘El Wuhoosh’, El Morabba3 slams us with their latest progressive-rock single ‘Biban’, released last Friday. The Jordanian band continues to push musical boundaries and explore new artistic horizons. We’ve seen them diverge from their usual instrument-oriented sounds and more into industrial territory with ‘El Wuhoosh’, and it’s apparent that they’ve stayed their experimental course with ‘Biban’.
With a strong recurring bass-line, fleeting synth waves, shriek-like electric guitar licks laced with effects, accompanied by polyrhythmic & sample-based grooves and galloping trap rhythms, El Morabba3 deliver in ‘Biban’ a plethora of sounds which feel new and radical but at the same time managed to leave vestiges of their iconic noise’s taste in our mouths, tip-toeing between innovation and familiarity.
With lyrics co-written by Mohammad Abdallah and Jordanian firecracker Idreesi, and sound designed and produced by Basel Naouri, ‘Biban’ recalls Bedouin speech and the rhythms of traditional Khaliji music while mapping the shifting sands of the self. Tackling the duality of self, the split between our everyday lives in the present and our dreams of history, our desires and what we think we desire, what we know and what we think we know. With ‘El Wuhoosh’ and ‘Biban’, it seems like El Morabba3 are coming back with full force, and we can’t wait to see how they’ll continue to break through the walls of mediocrity (Pun intended).
The new single was released accompanied by a mesmerising visualizer produced by the renowned Lebanese studio Balkoon, and starring acclaimed performer Paula Saba. You can check it out here. And rejoice the diaspora of Germany, as El Morabba3 are performing in Berlin, on June 3rd and Hamburg on June 4th.
