Dear reader,

After finishing this album, I wasn’t sure if sitting down with a biographer was the right thing to do. Although, as I now try to write something myself instead, I’m wary of adding too much weight to the already large pile of lyrics in this body of work. The words were burning well on their way out, and I feel that, encapsulated within these sonic frames, they’re flickering still, enveloping the album in a red glow and veils of smoke.

The metaphor is apt, for if there were one prevailing element in these songs it would be fire. The most unpredictable, volatile, and destructive of the four. And from its embers and ashes new beginnings may spring. Just as fire can erupt with great force, most of these songs seemed to burst their way into existence. Unabashedly and without warning, they demanded my attention and determined the course of my days.

They say the faster the flame burns, the harder it is to catch. Similarly, capturing the right feel while recording proved challenging at times. Some of the songs were recorded on tour in various scattered rooms, which worked well, perhaps because displacement is such a big theme throughout the record. Others found the beginning of their recorded life in professional studios where I don’t always find it easy to dig into myself, but nevertheless these environments along with the collaborators present provided the right context for capturing real, intimate moments.

I’ve never really approached music conceptually. Usually, songwriting feels more like carving away into a self-revealing sculpture rather than carefully implementing a pre-existing blueprint. After recent developments in my life, however, I did feel a tremendous urge to build a metaphysical altar for what had been lost. The end result, though at times eclectic, feels like the most harmonious record I’ve made to date, with all 10 songs strung together by a same sense of honoring and letting go.

I have many people to thank. Some, whose names appear in the credits, are directly involved in the making of the record, while others were significant in various ways long before a single note was recorded. I am grateful to all these beautiful souls.
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Tamino-Amir Moharam Fouad New York City,
August 2024

Some notable mentions:

• The Arabic oud, which I’ve been playing for several years now, is again an important instrument and major sonic pillar for the album. It appears in almost every song, sometimes as a lead instrument, most notably on Sanpaku. The tracks: Raven, My Heroine, & Dissolve were all written on it, and have the instrument at their core, with the rest of the arrangements built around the backbone of my oud playing and vocals.

• Most of the songs were written in New York City, where I now live.

• The main studios where we worked were located in New Orleans, Brussels, and New York.

• The main musicians are my own live band along with some guest players.

• The main producers are my longtime collaborator PJ Maertens and myself. There’s co-production by Eric Heigle and Alessandro Buccellati, & additional production by Chris Messina, Zach Hanson, and Jo Francken.

• Mixing is done by Zach Hanson, Chris Messina, and PJ Maertens. Mastering by Heba Kadry.