Description
Sometimes I wish I didn’t overuse words, like what if I never described a record as “lurking” so the one time I did use it you really felt the impact? Sometimes I wish I only went to the movie theater once a year so I’d be fully overwhelmed by the experience rather than feeling like the volume and focus is rote. And today I wish I didn’t distribute any records via JABS, so when I posted Muyassar Kurdi’s ‘Mountains of Poetry’ everyone would think, ‘wow that must be a special record for it to be the only thing on the website.’
This special record crossfades disjointed, unsettling electronic compositions with drifting, somber vocals. Both sounds are foundational, both are centered. There’s no sense of background/foreground, it’s all one equisite gesture. Sounds accumulate through each song, a digital restlessness that feels both anxious and focused. It’s a little bit Eliane Radigue, a little bit ’Tri Repetae’ and a little bit haunted house. Kurdi’s carries the abstraction and tonal curiosity of her earlier works to ‘Mountains of Poetry’ but here uses words to concretize the effect. It’s not quite confrontational but it’s also not lulling, there’s not a single moment on this record that lets you get lost. It’s never dreamlike. The words accumulate too, creating this depth and humanity that matches the obsessive buzz of the electronics. Kurdi describes the ‘Mountains of Poetry’ as “a reflection to navigate the tender space of remembering, forgetting and mourning.” This isn’t even a possibility I imagined for a record AND YET it’s exactly what she’s done here. I feel so grateful!
Released 2026 by Bilna’es, black vinyl, includes download code
