Retiring to pursue a new project, Al-Mutreb (The Singer, aka The Human Oyster, aka Ja7eem Hafez) leaves us with the very best and last of what has jeopardized his health, sanity, and a number of friendships.
An almost ten-year-long journey traces some tracks like "Ladyyyyy 2020" (produced by Amjad Shahrour [2017-2020] and appearing on HIZZ’s ‘Kombile 002’), morphing from a dreampop song to an apprehensive doom and gloom track overlaid with the sound of a hospital ventilator. Another track that fell under Al-Mutreb’s incessant urge to butcher is "nar el ghera" (fire of jealousy, produced by 1800s Internet [2020-2021] and appearing on a fundraiser comp for Gaza on Avon Terror Corps). Starting out with a song about a love ruined by jealousy, only to be devoured by Abul-Loul and 1800s Internet and spat out, mutilated beyond recognition, "nar el ghera" is inspired by an almost palpable hatred and a desire to self-destruct if it means taking down the enemy.
Al-Mutreb’s voice shapeshifts throughout the album; from self-indulgent romance ("Sorry Habibti," produced by 1800s Internet, and first appearing on Bokeh Versions’ NTS show [April/2021]), to intimidation ("nar el ghera"), to provocation ("Al-Mutreb [The Singer]," the result of a chance encounter with Amaury [Ulan Bator, Faust] in Napoli, recorded Live at the Hermann Nitsch Museo [Sep/2021]), all the way to a slurred recitation ("Uhrob Min El Hob," produced by jinjin [2022]) from two spotty livers in a cloud of tobacco smoke.
Following a long tradition of plagiarists, from Abdel Wahab and Fairouz to Serge Gainsbourg and Nick Cave, Al-Mutreb, borrowing the Mutreb status from the formers and the devil-may-care attitude from the latters, steals proudly, changing the language, context, music, and - in most of them - the words to the point where if you were not reading it here, you wouldn’t know.
Al-Mutreb also repurposes some of his personal field recordings throughout the album; one of which, in particular, is the little girl we hear in the prelude, who, upon Mutreb’s request back in 2012, sings about fear in a captivating performance following the humdrum attempts of her colleagues and mentors to do so.
The project of Al-Mutreb Abul-Loul (Abul-Loul, a nickname that translates to The Father/The King of Pearls) culminates in a bodily manifestation of a very real and very rare pearl; a case with hardly any medical literature; the development of a scrotal pearl, removed under general anesthesia, adding to the series of the many unfortunate and absurd occurrences that describe Abul-Loul’s life, and calling for the abortion of this project to make room for a new undertaking.
released January 14, 2022
Mastered by jinjin
Lyric reinterpretations by Shereen Amarin and Laith Demashqieh
DBL7CD
