The song Enshrouded is a great opener, and showcases Khalife's style impressively. It has a punchy, frantic orchestral riff (theme?) with really nice layers of strings, flute and horns which makes me think of being chased, before Marcel's commanding vocal comes in, then the theatrical female voice of Oumayma El-Khalil, who shares vocal duties on the whole album. Much of the drama of the song comes from the interplay of the orchestral instruments, which works subtly behind the vocal and burst out in the instrumental sections. It's catchy, engaging, and genuinely musically interesting, like so much pop isn't.
After the short romantic interlude, the tranquil title track swims into your ears. The name gives a pretty good idea of the sound of it, as do the liner notes' translation of the chorus (The sun rose, how beautiful is its light./ Let's bake, let's milk the cow.) It's driven by very nice drumming which sounds like tabla and has lots of very pleasant interweaving parts, with some sprightly strings, hopeful vocals from Marcel and Oumayma, and lots of those little chimes that sound like fairies.
Following Dreamy Sunrise, the 9 minute Land of the South is a bit of a lull, a muted meditative number with Oumayma sounding mournful. The oud is prominent and the overall mood is pleasant enough, but I think this one is more about the lyrics. The liner notes have several credits for 'poetry' on the album, and Marcel is known for setting Arabic poetry to his more spiritual music. Land of the South is a solemn poem about a war-torn people retaining their honour through hardship,and is quite powerful even to read in translation. Unfortunately, without understanding the lyrics as they are sung over monotonous oud noodling (oudling?), this is my least favourite on the album. Until I learn Arabic I suppose.
The album picks up slowly, with a couple of songs which have more sonic drama and energy but aren't quite as exciting as Enshrouded or the title track. Then we have a real strange one called Bird of the South, which has drum machine percussion including very tinny sounding handclaps, a recurring horn part which sounds like music for children, and cheery vocals from both singers. To begin with the drums are a bit crud, but as the song develops and more instruments weave in and out (including real drums), you're caught up in the parade-like sound and it's joyful.
The album rides out on two songs dedicated to Lebanon: I Chose You, My Homeland, which hits the same kind of vibe as Enshrouded but a little more mellow, and has an amusing part that sounds like they're singing WOGADOGWOGADOGWOGADOG, and the excellent cinematic instrumental Beirut - Pictures in Black and White. They close the album strongly, and at a curt 38 minutes, I'm often tempted to just stick it back to the beginning. The most lasting impression is its positive mood, something which can easily turn to cheese in music. Dreamy Sunrise pulls it off because the singing and arrangements feel theatrical, and because the songs themselves are rich with detail and don't sound quite like anything else I know.
Here's a thing from Marcel's website which is a little infuriating in that it plays you most of each song but not the end. You might be able to find a torrent but if not just pay the man.
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