Sametou Sawtan [LP]

Sametou Sawtan (Arabic for "I Heard a Voice") is the second full-length album from SANAM, the Beirut-based sextet known for their raw fusion of Arabic song, free improvisation, and experimental rock. Building on the momentum of their 2023 debut, this record is a deeper, more expansive work-where traditional poetry and folk melodies collide with distorted guitars, buzuq drones, and fractured electronics.Recorded between a medieval house in Byblos and La Frette Studios in Paris, and produced by Radwan Ghazi Moumneh (Jerusalem in My Heart), the album reflects on feelings of dislocation and inner unrest. Tracks like the looping, autotuned "Tatayoum" and the thunderous opener "Harik" explore obsessive states and emotional turbulence, while settings of texts by Omar Khayyam, Paul Shaoul, and Egyptian folk sources highlight the band's use of language and sound as tools for navigating unstable realities.With it's mix of intense live energy and deliberate studio craft, Sametou Sawtan is SANAM's clearest statement yet-an arresting blend of tradition and experimentation grounded in the experience of cultural and personal upheaval.