While the last ten years have seen a surge in popularity for electronic and techno-infused sounds, simultaneously they have witnessed the rise of indie folk-rock bands, namely Lebanon's Lazzy Lung. Founded initially as a solo-project in 2006 by Canadian-Lebanese Allan Chaaraoui (the band's lead singer and guitarist), Lazzy Lung developed into a four-member band to release three unsigned albums, all the while touring the region with the likes of Atlanta-based outfit The Black Lips. More recently, Lazzy Lung have been performing acoustic shows at smaller, more intimate venues to gear up for their latest unsigned release - a folk, indie-rock record by the name of Swim The Tide.With a slight melancholic feel to it, Swim The Tide is basically the inverse of the 2013 album release Sailor's Delight - a fiery ode to Beirut's hectic nightlife which, as we know, entails abundant drinking, smoking, dancing and loving. Also toying with the idea of apocalypse (as 2012 was meant to be the end of the world, right?), Sailor's Delight includes tracks like “Sex and Pirates," "Turkish Soaps" and "Kissing Whores," which are cold-blooded. Addressing the irrational urges that stem from the prospect of death - in full "we're-going-down-guns-blazing" mode -, the album isn't for the fainthearted.Inevitably, pursuing a live-like-there's-no-tomorrow lifestyle takes its toll, and that's what Swim The Tide is about. Tracks like "The Fiddler," "Chasing Shadows" and "Younger Years" which include confessions of budding emotional pain and capitulation, reveal a sense of exhaustion and desire for retreat. This sentiment is rendered particularly heartfelt in the tracks "Passing Lane" and "The Fiddler" in which female vocalists The Postcards & Julia Sabra, May Obeid and Rita Saade express submissions like "sometimes I just feel like giving up." Closing the album, "Cutting Heads" begins with relentless pleads to return to "feel something more than nothing" against a slow, mellow melody. Eventually, the tempo picks up with rapid, fervent drumming complemented by intermittent hard-rock pinch harmonics. Indeed, the final track's mood hardens. Joined by lyrics of disillusionment towards the status quo, the album ends with an anti-establishment feel.In alternative-rock fashion, Swim The Tide is distinctly subversive. So while Lazzy Lung aren't riding the electro-techno wave, they have raised the bar for deep, and lyrically-sound indie-folk music across the Middle East.Check out Lazzy Lung’s Facebook, Instagram & Soundcloud