|
(2018) Habibi - Cardamom Garden EP
Review:
…The Brooklyn-based quintet Habibi is best known for its collision of psych rock riffs and harmonious ’60s girl pop. You’ll find both (plus echoes of surf, folk, post-punk, and Motown soul) in spades on its debut LP, released in 2014 by Burger Records.
This March, Habibi released its long-awaited follow-up, Cardamom Garden. Like the self-titled effort that precedes it, this 4-track EP is full of charged-up garage rhythms and infectious hooks. But here, they interact with elements of Middle Eastern psych. The results are unexpected, exciting, and, as always, catchy as hell.
…Digging deeper into these hypnotic grooves, Habibi evolves its own sound, and others’. Cardamom Garden closes with the band’s cover of “Green Fuz,” the sole output of Texas-based late-’60s garage group Green Fuz. (The Cramps gave the track its signature psychobilly twist in 1981). Habibi’s harmonious Farsi version kicks up the tempo and lays the rumbling riffs on thick.
“From the beginning, [Habibi] has always been an homage to Middle Eastern psych,” says Iranian-American Jamalifard, who sings in Farsi for the first time on Cardamom Garden. “If you listen to the lyrics on our first album, it’s about nomadic gypsy women in the mountains. [Singing in Farsi] felt like the next step in a natural progression.”
Nedayeh Bahar (“Song of Spring” in Farsi) centers around a woman whose departure leaves “the wind sing[ing] her song.” While the narrative is left ambiguous, the song draws its charm from wistful adages like “no things true were meant to be,” layered with poetic musings about tall trees and gentle flowers. Lead singer Rahill Jamalifard chants the lyrics over charming surf-rock guitars, making the song feel both sunny and meditative. And while the band has always incorporated elements of Middle Eastern psych into their songs, Cardamom Garden marks their first time Jamalifard is singing in both Farsi and English.; guitarist Lenny Lynch has said the band is making a statement that there are “many more ways to communicate than with just one Western idea.” Habibi’s approach makes “Nedayeh Bahar” feel expansive and luxurious, allowing space for both their personal observations and cultural identities.
…Cardamom Garden finds us sweating it out inside a tent in the middle of the Iranian desert, with ‘Khodaya’ suddenly emerging from nothing at all, miraculously bright and fresh like a much needed oasis. As soon as you drink from it, the source vanishes just as quickly as it had first appeared, leaving ‘Gypsy Love’ in its place. ‘Nedayeh Bahar’ and ‘Green Fuz’ complete the brief and exotic bouquet, the latter sounding like the long lost child of Saeed and the Shangri-Las.
Tracklist:
01. Khodaya.flac
02. Gypsy Love.flac
03. Nedayeh Bahar.flac
04. Green Fuz.flac
Summary:
Country: USA
Genre: indie-pop, psychedelic rock
Media Report:
Source : CD
Format : FLAC
Format/Info : Free Lossless Audio Codec, 16-bit PCM
Bit rate mode : Variable
Bit rate : ~ 661-782 Kbps
Channel(s) : 2 channels
Sampling rate : 44.1 KHz
Bit depth : 16 bits |
