Basma and Temir Alcy's «NAD»: a dark, hazy album in tune with the turning season

French-Moroccan vocalist Basma and the Paris-based group Temir Alcy have released a new album, «NAD». It arrives as the clocks change at the end of October, and The Guardian's reviewer describes it as a dark and disorientating record about loss and new beginnings.

Sound and structure

The album has 11 tracks that sit somewhere between folk, shoegaze (a guitar-music style built on dense, blurred textures) and ambient. They are built from skulking percussion, droning passages and plucked strings soaked in reverb. Opening track «Belati» sets the tone with a spacious, shapeshifting composition in which ghostly drones and Basma's layered calls give way to a sluggish beat. Most songs have little formal structure, though an intermittent, sultry groove surfaces, such as the winding bass on «Khti Sarah» or the slow, swinging rhythm of «Aji M3aya».

Vocals and textures

Basma sings in a mixture of Darija, the vernacular Arabic of Morocco, and French. Her poetic images tie in with the changing seasons: «shy light», blowing wind and bonfires. On «Rised», breathy fragments are looped and reversed into a dreamy haze, while «La Tourne» has a hypnotic quality. The reviewer picks «Al Atlal» as the standout, a track that lumbers along like a haunted lullaby as she moves between soft wails and stoic spoken word.

Subtle textures deepen the atmosphere. «Belati» carries traces of oscillating electronics, «Khti Sarah» has muted flecks of oud, and «Aji M3aya» features field recordings that shimmer and glitch like static. Experimentation peaks on «Ana Jaya», where the line between instruments and vocals blurs.

Also out this month

The review also mentions other October releases: «Dalga» (Zel Zele), a compilation of 1980s Turkish pop productions; the second album by Melbourne duo Hysterical Love Project, «February's Album»; and the second album by experimental dubwise group Holy Tongue (AD 93).