The Chicken Came First began their musical career back in 2010. Six years later, their sound has matured, including one band member in particular, Eslam Salem, who has recently released a solo album purveying some very advanced sounds rooted in experimental post-rock with an unmistakable ambient vibe.
Yours Truly, Atoms is Eslam Salem's latest solo offering which demonstrates his resilience in adopting different styles and elements, utilising and fusing different genres, while laying down a true piece of musical mastery. The nine-track album starts with a song aptly entitled Gaining Momentum where the artist puts to use a sample taken from the dialogue of the movie Phenomenon. The clever intro launches the album into experimental ambient territories and sets the stage for the advanced material to come.
The whole album rotates around the three styles mentioned above, with a couple of tracks certainly standing out, some of which feature the rest of Salem’s band members. Omar Abdelhady’s guitar and Sherif El-Shazly’s vocals both appear on the second track Royal Lobotomy, and Omar Abdelhady again on track number four, Breaking Free, providing the album with a unique layer of sounds that compliments the album's tone.
Another song that instantly catches the ear is Moqadema. Clocking in at a minute and forty four seconds, this track centres around a monologue taken from Al Masir, a classic Egyptian movie. The last track Silsila is very abstract, heavily experimental, and distinctively ambient, ending the album on a very bright note.
The album as a whole is a fresh departure from the torrential flood of house and techno productions recently coming out of the country and is highly recommended for anyone looking for an alternative, post-rock sound in Egypt.
Follow Eslam Salem on Bandcamp here and checkout The Chicken Came First on Facebook here.
