Paris-based Lebanese DJ and producer Lyss just dropped her new compilation, ‘Safar to Lebanon’, on December 13th. The album, which features 15 tracks from a diverse group of producers and DJs, was created in support of Lebanon during its ongoing conflict with Israel. All proceeds from this project will go towards the Lebanese Red Cross, a frontline organisation providing lifesaving support amid the national crisis.
The albums’ cover art, created by Lebanese artist Sama Beydoun, features a black and white view from her grandmother’s house in Beirut that is meant to reflect the city’s current reality rather than an idealised image.
Much like Lyss’s discography, the 15-track release hurls itself through industrial, trance, electro and ambient sounds, with some parts feeling more raw and abrasive than others. The sound itself is strangely cohesive but never quite settles into a familiar rhythm. The involvement of a diverse group with varied perspectives is extremely apparent throughout the listen, especially in the way it’s mixed and sampled, and in the range of sounds that come together in the final result.
'Souri' by Manami features a melancholic piano layered over a sweeping, static heavy beat, evoking a deep sense of loss and desolation that resonates throughout the track. In contrast, Mel C's 'Moody Stroll' brings a lighter moment to the album with its noticeably upbeat rhythm.
The standout track on the list however is ‘Uprising’ by Malaise Vagal, which kicks off with a glitchy synth drop before plunging into a relentless, fast paced sound that overlays a sample of Judith Butler discussing misconceptions about Palestinian resistance. It mostly consists of the same riff, but it’s varied in different ways throughout its three minute duration. By the second minute, Butler’s shaky voice gets lost in this gritty, industrial fog, where phrases like “armed resistance” and “uprising” circle endlessly until they almost blur into a state of echolalia, before ultimately crashing into an angry, blaring storm of breakneck tempos and white noise.
The overall theme of this project ranges from this euphonic longing to anger to resilience, which creates a lively display of the many ways resistance can manifest.
