From its very first notes this is an album which treads the finest line between peaceful serenity and poignant fragility. That’s a balance that only a musician of Charbel Haber’s fluency can readily negotiate. A principal player in the evolution of the Beirut experimental scene, he was a founder member in the late nineties of the pivotal Scrambled Eggs and since then a catalyst for so much more (check out his electro noire work with Fadi Tabbal as the Bunny Tylers duo). There’s a lot to absorb when delving into Haber’s back catalogue but with this latest release (out now on Ruptured Records) he may have realised his most complete musical offering so far.
‘May a soft sun bless your sky while you wait for the inevitable’ finds Haber reflecting on a change of situation following a move from Beirut to Paris. At its core the music’s gentle melodic focus seems to capture his search for calm and peace now that the trauma of living in his war-ravaged home is at least physically distant.
The opening soundscapes are ambitiously orchestral and subtly expansive. This show starts in the future takes a slow dawning swell of harmonic drones then layers on gliding strings and hints of choral purity. It’s an introduction that stretches out effortlessly with a poise which parallels classic Stars of the Lid. Such lightness continues into the meditative One last stroll in the garden of light and underpins the shimmering Phosphorous resting by the entrance of a quantic maze. Here though, for the first time more restless motifs filter through. Brief notes skim across the soundwaves and bass thrums burble incidentally, echoing the jolt signposted by the track’s less sedate title.
What becomes clearer as ‘May a soft sun..’ uncurls is that this album is voicing something more complex and personal for Haber. The sabbatical that he always dreamed of in a city that he says he loves has opened underlying tensions for him. The album feels sequential and listening takes you down a path which gradually becomes more rugged. Across a flower bed, dressed in Sunday best, lay the bodies of docile beasts soundtracks the simmering uneasiness with its cavernous low tones, piercing string slices and some eerie tape hiss. I stutter when I think of love and death is even more abrasive, its thready, distorted organ tones unsettling the hovering elegance of the tune.
Haber has always been an irrepressible multi-disciplinary artist. His 2022 release ‘A Common Misunderstanding of the Speed of Light’ combined a book, sound and visual imagery equally. However on ‘May a soft sun…’ his concentration is musical with his lyrical flare focussing on the incisive titling of each piece. There’s nothing throw-away about how The unfortunate meeting of an accident and the goddess of time on a dissecting table describes the melodramatic scale and searing beauty of the song which follows.
It’s a testament to Haber’s artistry that he has made such an expansive recording from his usual low-key approach. This is hands-on electronic music coaxed from a set-up of guitar, pedals and a modest modular interface. The shifts he creates are subtle but still have an emotional impact. On An infinity of pixelated seas under an infinity of pixelated suns his tidal wave forms seem colder almost desolate, chilled by quivering strings and mournful brass. The glowing cityscape he painted at the album’s beginning now seems more troubled, a cycle captured in the ominous Lawrence English- like descent of the closing track This show ends in the past.
‘May a soft sun bless your sky while you wait for the inevitable’ is an unhurried uncompromising piece of musical narrative. Charbel Haber has composed in essence a long form communication which needs to be experienced as a whole. It’s not a superficial mindfulness soundtrack but something ultimately more revealing, told through the lens of experience.
Get your copy of ‘May a soft sun bless your sky while you wait for the inevitable’ by Charbel Haber from your local record store or direct from Ruptured Records HERE
