Here at SoulBounce we cover music from the four corners of the globe, but I don't think we have yet come across an artist hailing from the United Arab Emirates. Step forward Hamdan Al-Abri, a 30-year-old singer/songwriter, who I discovered thanks to a chance reading of a tweet from British MC Ty. My curiosity was piqued enough to do a little digging, and I came across his self-titled EP, which was released yesterday. The EP deals with love, life, and loss in a pretty comprehensive way given it's only five tracks long and comes in under 20 minutes, but they are definitely 20 minutes well worth spending. "Life" is a downbeat tale of day-to-day struggles told over a disjointed, haunting beat that acts as the perfect backdrop for Hamdan's almost resigned vocals, whereas "(Re)Birth" shows off his versatility as a singer as he slips into a falsetto and sings the refrain "I just want to be inside you" -- yup, it's that kinda song. "Falling" is probably my favorite, and the most straight-forwardly soulful, cut on the EP and really showcases Hamdan's strengths as a songwriter, as he questions our purpose here on earth. I'll hold back from simply posting the full song lyrics here but with lines such as "What I can't understand is why are we on this land? And what's the purpose of being, being human?" and "I channel all of the past, all the good sh-t and the bad. But all I find are more questions than answers" this is certainly a song or reflection. If the above wasn't enough to convince you that the EP is worth checking out, then maybe the fact that it's available for free from his Bandcamp page is. So don't delay, head on over and download one of the best EPs (free or otherwise) that has dropped this year.
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