Ghadr - غ​د​ر by Sandy Chamoun, Anthony Sahyoun, and Jad Atoui

From their own precarious vantage point in Lebanon, Sandy Chamoun, Anthony Sahyoun, and Jad Atoui use their new album Ghadr as a space to vent frustration about the blatant evil going unpunished, and oftentimes outright rewarded, in the world, all without succumbing to a natural soul-shattering pessimism. A bed of glitchy yet organic electronic noise bubbles across the background, rising occasionally to meet the shimmering, semi-traditional vocals at points of extreme distortion and overflowing emotion. For these moments, pure, visceral, knee-jerk reactions to the world take over, blinding us with rage as we beg impotently for compassion. However, as the noise simmers down to give us breathing room, complex feelings of perseverance, community, and hope occupy this open space, an impossible cocktail to maintain as a further influx of horrifying information sends another emotional tsunami crashing to shore. These conditions make hope virtually untenable, but this album’s sisyphean search for light inspires us to envision a livable future, even given the impossible odds ahead.