Khaled Kurbeh - Likulli Fadain Eqaeh (2025)

Likulli Fad?in Eq?eh ???? ????? ?????? [to each space its own rhythm] 2019-23

a landscape of ever amusing contradictions on unstretched canvas: - of predictable rhythms (day and night, high tide and low tide, routine and intuition, rent and bureaucracy) and unpredictable rhythms (good fortune, bad poetry, chance, mistakes and chaos).

Berlin-based Syrian musician Khaled Kurbeh makes his Research Records debut with Likulli Fad?in Eq?eh, a tapestry of soundscapes written, performed and recorded across four years as part of his practice muhawal?t [attempts, variations] and haw?mesh [margins]: an outlet of gestures, sonic footnotes and observations from the everyday.

Kurbeh's first release in seven years departs from his largely acoustic debut, Aphorisms, a collaboration with oud player Raman Khalaf and ensemble with elements of maq?m and jazz.

Likulli Fad?in Eq?eh offers a collection of 10 electroacoustic compositions - they're brooding and experimental with hints of musique concrete. The tracklist implies a mapping or an itinerary. Field recordings of swallows and the snapping and un-shelling of sunflower seeds on interlude Nuzha I [Excursion I] are countered by sparse composition of low-end synth, harmonium, upright piano and prepared fender rhodes played with mallets on Darb I-II [Path I-II]. Patterns of cymbals and agitated bells appear on Jauqet Ajr?s [Choir of Bells], while currents of bowed strings shiver and stutter on al-Ajr?f [The Cliffs]. The release captures four years of overlapping sonic wanders, finely balancing tensions of harmony and dissonance, stillness and resonance, texture and rhythm - recorded inside and outside.

The gatefold vinyl features artworks by Ida Lawrence and includes a booklet of 10 painted variations of the one scene. On the outer cover, paths stretch under a dramatically accented and vivid sky; while inside, the same landscape appears over and over in another light.

Likulli Fad?in Eq?eh ???? ????? ?????? [to each space its own rhythm], is set for release on June 27th 2025 via Research Records, Naarm/Melbourne. A follow up solo piano album by Kurbeh, recorded in his studio in Kreuzberg, Berlin, will be released later this year.