Primarily known in North America for his work with the mental-rock outfit Blaak Heat, Thomas Attar Bellier is back with this brand new musical project and direction. Captured in Globetrotter fashion between Los Angeles, Cairo and Paris, Miraj To be Al-Qasar’s first studio release, which promises to be a different, rule-bending EP.
Open this borderline surreal EP is Ahlan Wa Sahlan with a mix of traditional Middle Eastern instruments and garage rock conventions. This mixed with Arabic vocals creates a real musical culture clash. Bellier’s psycho-rock past can be discovered in Dance of Maria, but it is forced to play a small role behind the confusing instruments. So far, Al-Qasar has proven that just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.
Single, Gnawi, which exhibits some of the conventions of rock music such as complex guitar playing and fast tempos, but also brings elements of Arabic fluff through to traditional Middle Eastern instruments. The resulting acoustics make it difficult to envision a viable target audience for this type of music. psychedelic Middle Eastern pop music mixed with garage rock as well as oil and water.
Sometimes works of the polar opposite genre can work brilliantly, with evidence of this coming from The Hu, Bloodywood and Babymetal. However, the left wing genre combinations were extremely popular and flawed, with Miraj is a solid queen.
