SAHYOUN, ANTHONY - Proof By Infinite Descent

"After making a name for himself over the last decade in Beirut's vibrant contemporary music scene, Anthony Sahyoun unveils his solo debut, the evocative and atmospheric Proof By Infinite Descent. Using guitar, synthesizer, and voice, Sahyoun tackles themes of mourning, accidental prophecy, and the new holy trinity of God, capitalism, and technology -- all while mining the seams of experimental electronica and gravity-defying ambient music. Restless, haunting, at times breathtakingly beautiful, this is an album that seeks to rattle cages rather than soothe the comfortable. Proof By Infinite Descent is the first installment in the Corrosion Series, a new project by longtime collaborators Ruptured and Beacon Sound that aims to showcase Beirut's blast-resistant music scene while building cultural connective tissue in a time of institutional corrosion. RIYL: Tim Hecker, Ben Frost, Anna Meredith, Fennesz, Blanck Mass, Eartheater, Holly Herndon, Liturgy. Clear vinyl; edition of 300. Sahyoun on Proof By Infinite Descent: "This album is a response to contemporary Lebanon -- and, by extension, our fractured world -- and is inspired by the complex web of institutions (religion, family, capitalism, etc.) that work together to preserve the status quo despite looming catastrophe. Grief, futility, and perpetual chaos mix and reconstitute themselves in these songs, each of which contains a story within. 'Irhamna', for example, was written as a prayer to Mar Roukoz, the patron saint of plagues and epidemics. It's a piece that I produced in late 2019, thinking that it was a reference to the plague that is our government, completely unaware that in just a few months the world would be dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic. 'Jesuit Literature...' was written in an attempt to make boat sounds with my bows, reimagining the Levant without its history of colonization by external forces, specifically the Jesuits beginning in the 1600s and by the French after the defeat of the Ottomans. 'Khifat Al-Atraf' (loosely translating to 'mourning' in English), the piece featuring Firas al-Hallek, is a poem for his mother, who passed away when he was 14; Wasted Efforts, featuring the voice of Julia Sabra, is likewise dedicated to my own mother (still very much alive, thankfully). Requiem is an offering to those who lost their lives in the Beirut port explosion of Aug 4, 2020. Proof By Infinite Descent might represent my own futile expedition towards making sense of the present but I hope you enjoy it nonetheless, finding beauty in the cracks, which grow larger by the day." - Beacon Sound.