It takes a singular vision to bring something new to the post rock table these days, loud/quiet trajectories and obtuse time signatures have long been overplayed, but Lebanese sextet SANAM definitely are a band that deliver that much needed fresh perspective. The group’s members (Sandy Chamoun /vocals, Antonio Hajj /bass, Farah Kaddour/buzuq, Anthony Sahyoun/ guitar + synth, Pascal Semerdjian/drums and Marwan Tohme /guitars) are all active in the intricate web of the Bierut underground scene although their coming together as an ensemble had short-lived intentions. Initially formed to play a one-off show at the 2021 Irtijal music festival, the performance lit a creative spark that the six musicians decided to keep alive.
Their first album ‘Aykathani Malakon’ was recorded live during an eight day improv residency and released to acclaim in 2023, followed by a stream of live shows through Europe which included a seminal performance at London’s Café Oto. Such a flurry of activity not only built a reputation but cemented their commitment to develop their unique blend of rock-fused free jazz with Arabic lyrical, modal and rhythmic traditions.
Now their follow up album ‘Sametou Sawtan’ out on the esteemed Constellation label sees them honing in and sharpening their sonic expressionism. Opener Harik immediately captures SANAM’s heightened focus. It’s a tune which almost scrabbles into existence, spitting electronics, Chamoun’s sharp breaths, pounding drums, all searching until the song congregates as a forceful, driving incantation. From here the vocals urge forcefully, scratchy guitars scrape and buzuq lines whir before the piece swirls inevitably into a spell binding ecstatic realisation.
Hadikat Al Ams is similarly fixed on distilling electric rock energy into something more multi-dimensional, re-imagined through a mindset which parallels The Body’s quest for decibel re-interpretation. The song frames the words of Lebanese poet, dramatist and thinker Paul Shaoul, pushing his wonderment at nature’s ways towards these times of climactic decline. From the solemn beauty of Chamoun’s unaccompanied voice to the pumping stomp of a riff, Hadikat Al Ams takes some wild twists. A tingling mid-section of trilling buzuq and rumbling synths hovers spectrally then finally blasts into a crushing, bass pummelled maelstrom. It’s big music with a inspired calibration.
SANAM’s music could never be shackled to one dynamic though and ‘Sametou Sawtan’ continues to explore issues and feelings through a sensitive, more fluid medium. The yearning atmospheric ballad Goblin merges folk tradition with a hint of Arabic pop grandeur. Here the band create a tingling cosmic drama that bows out to a sombre chorale which lurks with 4AD gothic gravitas. Then there’s the kaleidoscopic Habbidon that shuffles purposefully to some deep-bass undertow and chiming guitars, chilled with reverb. Chamoun’s vocal glides gracefully on autotuned thermals towards the close, where her prayer-like call across the silence has that otherworldly power. This is a psychedelic torch song with a lasting spell.
The lyrical foundations of SANAM’s songs are clearly key to this band’s emotionally sculpted soundscape. The texts used, drawn from folk song and centuries old verses, are lovingly curated for their inspirational depth as wells as relevance in today’s chaotic times. Two songs feature poetic lines from the revered twelfth century Iranian scholar Omar Kayyam because, as Sandy Chamoun asserts “When you read something from Omar, you feel a connection to now…The feeling that there’s not a clear path.” Sayl Damei, the first of those pieces, unfolds to a spacey dub bassline, surf guitar and curling buzuq patterns before blossoming in a lush dreamwave coda. The album’s title track also revolves around some Kayyam passages but set in a starker setting, just a drone, flickering percussive sparks and Chamoun’s resonant voice searching for meaning. “I hear a voice call from the unseen: Let go of worry” she sings.
It’s such an ability to make reflective, probing music within an experimental rock setting and avoid pretension or intellectual worthiness which sets SANAM apart. There’s a fluency and physicality in their music that propels the listener along with them plus a dramatic intensity which draws you in. The album’s epic centrepiece Hamam, based on an Egyptian folk song, sees the band balancing the tension between free-form and narrative structure brilliantly. From a tumbling improv intro to vocal/buzuq call-response and through to a spine-chilling section where the synth drones, shivering guitars and the vocals seem to grieve, you stay absorbed. The cut to silence, sudden noise shocks and final scrabbling cascade is some experience, as towering as any Beth Gibbons conjures on the magnificent ‘Lives Outgrown’.
Serious, dark, elevating and passionate ‘Sametou Sawtan’ is clearly a deep listen but also pulses with an immediacy that pulls you inside from the first track. SANAM have relinquished none of their vibrant live dynamic in this recording and it’s that uncompromising edginess which rests at the heart of this fine album. A band whose creative stamina shows no signs of flagging.
Get your copy of ‘Sametou Sawtan’ by SANAM from your local record store or direct from Constellation HERE
