On LILA, weightless synths, cloud rap inversions and dissociated beats come together to form a porous ambient tapestry. Mohamed Bourouissa is, in fact, an Algerian-French artist and photographer who, in his work, translates the social realities of marginalised groups into multi-layered portraits. On his debut album released on PAN, he explores relationships and memories. Each of the twelve tracks is dedicated to a person who has shaped the artist’s life. Bourouissa translates these moments into textures, voices and distinctive states of tension, recorded spontaneously using a keyboard, mixing desk, microphone and effects.
This approach inherently brings a certain complexity: melancholic and subtly unsettling moods alternate repeatedly. SEUM combines multi-layered drones with distorted vocals and xenharmonic chords – a deliberate departure from the intervals and tunings of conventional Western music. On the title track, featuring the Italian avant-garde artist Valentina Fanigliulo, hopeful pads unfold beneath metallically distorted vocals and irregular beats. LILA feels like a state between wakefulness and sleep. Voices sound veiled, synthesisers seem to float rather than define clear spaces, and beats often provide only fragmentary impulses. Mohamed Bourouissa’s debut oscillates somewhere between longing, vulnerability, unease and comfort – multi-layered, tangible, captivating.
Lila
