Thoom - Pork (Career Whore, 2020)
Moving away from her dark industrial sound, Lebanese artist Thoom enters singer-songwriter territory on ‘Pork’. A world in which the voice takes centre stage and the overall sound becomes more introspective. Whereas she used to hide immense amounts of anger in her songs, there is a certain fragility at play here. Though still rather shy and hidden under layers of pounding drums and the occasional harsh noise, there is a soft voice singing sweet melodies. Immensely deconstructed on the unsettling ‘It’s Going to be Ablaze’. ‘Pork’ is the sound of someone who longs for her homeland, always travelling and settling down somewhere, with a heart that longs for Beirut. The overall sadness works as an inspiration, allowing her to touch sonically on her heritage without getting too obviously lost in those sounds. The dabke rhythm on ‘Eat To Taste’ is as gentle as the reference to Asmahan on ‘Sound of a Heavy Stone’. Sonically similar to the early material of Lucrecia Dalt. A sound she also shows on ‘Shaytan’. A remarkable choice for a first single. And a brave one. It immediately shows that Thoom has quite a few stories to tell and wants to leave room to grow as an artist. ‘Pork’ feeds the curiosity for the next release. Where will it go? Will there always be a certain rebelliousness in her sounds? This is definitely the sound of an artist searching, testing, growing and trying not to be destroyed by the norm.
‘Pork’, , 2020
Released on Career Whore,