A Culturally Driving Release from Kuwaisiana
An EP release from Kuwaisiana delivers a culturally colorful and instrumental lush soundscape with songs that blend everything from indie folk and singer-songwriter, to pop-rock, a little hint of grunge here in there, and a lot of Arabic undertone as the record unfolds.
The Mishriff EP does an amazing job of taking you through these different sorts of chapters musically and as it does so, you become a little enamored with all the gorgeous layers of textures and instruments, tones that are coming from the record because by the time you get halfway through this, you begin to expect the unexpected.
The record does have a great sort of indie rock backbone that stays strong throughout a lot of the songs but also brings out this robust and unique percussion some of the time along with both Arabic and English lyrics which is something that you don't come across often and because the record incorporates Arabic lyrics along with instrumentation and classic American songwriting, you have something very special and unique.
This release is performed almost like a live show. You get the feeling that some of these songs were recorded live on the floor and everyone involved was just feeding off of each other's energies the entire time. The songs feel alive and breathing in their own way and this is something I find addictive and alluring.
There's so much cultural flair to these songs that you come out of it feeling a little bit different.
This is most certainly the type of release that you should be listening to in full. From beginning to end is the best way to soak in this EP and this is because the songs have strange ways of interconnecting with each other almost like a concept album would in a way.
More importantly, if you only listen to a few songs from this release then you are not getting anywhere near the full spectrum of what the record has to offer as a whole.
The instrumentation is gorgeous and combines clean and acoustic with a little bit of electric and edginess here and there along with that vivacious and electric energy that's incorporated in a lot of these tracks.
I certainly enjoy the color and textures that are strewn about through the course of this record but I also enjoy the heavier tracks as well that have distorted guitars and a little bit of that as I mentioned earlier, grunge fuzz tone approach.
The vocals are always performed with a certain kind of heart or passion if you will. Some of the times they're really belting out and not only are they hitting every note spot on, but they are doing so with a certain charm.
You can tell that this record came from someplace very real and that these guys are really pushing the boundaries of rock music, especially by infusing these different cultural entities into songs and records.
I can tell you right now that this is not exactly like something that you've heard before although songs have plenty of pop coating, catchiness, that rock backbone as I mentioned before, and they're packed to the brim with this sort of character and personality that you really latch onto.
It's a very beautiful record with a sort of natural forward-moving flow and serves as more of an experience than just an EP if you ask me.
This was like an escape from your normal day to day.
The EP spans six tracks and just under 25 minutes in length so there's no excuse for you not to be listening to this thing today.
Take a deep dive into this explorative and bright record that bends genres freely and is built with much fewer boundaries than you might be used to.
See how this feels when you listen to it.
