Solace via Beirut

A live set from Charbel Haber and Fadi Tabbal

We live at a moment during which live performance in person is nearly absent. Solace for those who prize such pleasures comes during Zoom concerts and recordings, and sometimes the solace even manages to sound like solace. That is the sense the pervades *Enfin la Nuit*, a beautiful live set performed by Charbel Haber and Fadi Tabbal last September at Ahm, a nightclub in Beirut, Lebanon, the city where both musicians live.

The album’s three tracks, each roughly 11 minutes or so long, are suffused with longing. The opening piece, from which the album takes its title, goes from whisper to loud sigh, layers of what appears to be guitar pushing a collective drone to higher and higher places. “Couvre-Feu” nods at pandemic life, the title being French for curfew, and the music like a sonorous mix of sirens and barbed wire (the latter featuring as the release’s cover image). Like “Enfin la Nuit,” this second track escalates over time, achieving something piercing and fierce. The closing entry, “Chaque Rose Porte en Elle Une Petite Mort,” introduces a woman’s voice, perched on the boarder between full-blooded and ethereal, and benefits from delectable glitchy treatments throughout.

More from Haber at [charbelhaber.bandcamp.com](https://charbelhaber.bandcamp.com/) and from Tabbal at [faditabbal.com](http://www.faditabbal.com/). Last October, I hosted the premiere of Tabbal’s fifth solo album [*Subject to Potential Errors and Distortions*](https://disquiet.com/2020/10/23/tabbal-subject-to-potential-errors/).

An Improvised Atmosphere

From Sydney-based Pat Carroll

Beautiful five-minute ambient jam by Pat Carroll, student at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music. Wisps of sound fly this way and that, warped in an improvised atmosphere. Sounds turn back on themselves, tones and noises vying for lack of prominence.

This is the latest video I’ve added to [my ongoing YouTube playlist](https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAgCxRbmR1MJxihgJkCPEnehAPvjoF71-) of fine live performance of ambient music. Video originally posted to [YouTube](https://youtu.be/DuFJLybkTq4). More from Carroll at [instagram.com/patcarrollmusic](https://www.instagram.com/patcarrollmusic/).

Sound Ledger¹ (WHO, Mics, MIDI)

Audio culture by the numbers

9: The number of seconds one can safely be exposed to 120 dB of sound, according to WHO (World Health Organization)

6: The number of noise-reduction microphones in the Anker Liberty Air 2 Pro earbuds, meaning just one more mic than there are words in the new product’s name

440 – 880: The range, in hertz, reportedly depicted in the new logo design for MIDI

▰ ▰ ▰

¹Footnotes: WHO: [unb.com.bd](https://unb.com.bd/category/Special/noise-pollution-even-the-pandemic-has-failed-to-quiet-dhaka/63826). Microphones: [cnet.com](https://www.cnet.com/pictures/best-new-headphones-of-ces-2021/). MIDI: [cdm.link](https://cdm.link/2021/01/midi-has-a-slick-new-brand-identity-courtesy-pentagram-in-time-for-2-0/).

*Originally published in the January 25, 2021, edition of the This Week in Sound email newsletter ([tinyletter.com/disquiet](https://tinyletter.com/disquiet)).*

Current Favorites: Autoharp, Patterns, Ginsberg

Heavy rotation, lightly annotated

A weekly(ish) answer to the question “What have you been listening to lately?” It’s lightly annotated because I don’t like re-posting material without providing some context. I hope to write more about some of these in the future, but didn’t want to delay sharing them. (This weekly feature was previously titled Current Listens. The name’s been updated for clarity’s sake.)

▰ Kin Sventa playing saxophone and autoharp with [live processing](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aoIYjocR-XU) (beats, synthesis). When the beat kicks in around 2:00, it gets even better. On loop now. Way bolder than the track of his in my latest podcast, and that is way alright.

▰ Repetitions and echoes define the collection of muted elegies that is [*Aura*](https://triplicaterecords.bandcamp.com/album/aura) by Nashville-based Belly Full of Stars (aka Kim Rueger). Each track is titled “Pattern,” a term true not just to the genteel simplicity on hand, but to the deep sense of permanence the quiet tracks embody.

▰ The shimmering, swelling drone that is [“Blue Moon”](https://soundcloud.com/jeannineschulz/blue-moon) feels welcomingly rougher, considerably more strident, than a lot of recent music by Jeannine Schulz, and all the more compelling for it.

▰ A host of acts, including Gavin Friday (working with Howie B), Yo La Tengo, and Bill Frisell, set [the late Allen Ginsberg’s poetry to new music](https://allenginsberg.bandcamp.com/album/allen-ginsberg-s-the-fall-of-america-a-50th-anniversary-musical-tribute) (“All proceeds from the sale of this album will be donated to HeadCount.org promoting voter registration and participation in democracy”). A major highlight is the opening “Elegy for Neal Cassady” by Scanner.