Instrumental duo Gudewife can be described as many things, but perhaps the easiest label is maximalist. Blurring together math rock, post metal, ambient, experimental, jazz, IDM, psych, and prog to produce a dissonant, restless haze of sound. The swirling cascade – or rather, the careful retreat of it – makes their newest track all that much more remarkable.
"Tahir لتحرير'" is the opening meditation from Gudewife's upcoming EP, Atoms, Don’t Die, out this summer from Ripcord Records. In contrast to the band's typically anxious music, the song takes a restrained approach that centers the evocative poetry of Hala Alyan, whose voice echoes across lurching rhythms and billowing, distant melodies.
After the initial salvo launched by Gudewife's signature shifting wall-of-sound, Hala's words take center stage. The instrumentals are left quietly seething under her matter-of-fact delivery that's tinged with steely fury. The restraint of both the music and the poetry speak volumes greater than any riff, leaving space for cruelty and injustice to shine.
Gudewife shared the inspiration behind their newest song:
“'Tahrir التحرير'' means liberation, release and emancipation. The song is Gudewife's response to the genocide in Gaza and the occupation of the Palestinian people. We knew our instruments wouldn't be enough to convey the weight of pain, and the struggle for liberation, thus Hala Alyan's devastatingly beautiful poetry conveys the myriad, interwoven themes of struggle, resistance, despair, diaspora and hope for a free Palestine.”
Honing their agitated, claustrophobic sound into a furious backdrop for hope, grief, and liberation, Gudewife set the stage for an EP that's emotionally and sonically expansive. Get your first listen with “Tahrir التحرير'" and follow Ripcord Records on Bandcamp for the full release.
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