Leaving Records will release the new album from Maral, a Los Angeles-based Iranian-American producer.
As a powerful collection of original songs, Push marks a confident step forward from Maral’s earlier mixtape work. We can expect 15 bass-heavy beats steeped in Iranian classical and folk samples. We’re told that each song feels “vividly personal,” and that the album bursts with a psychedelic energy while grappling with a somber undercurrent. “The history of Iranian music has a lot of melancholy in it,” Maral says. “So much of Iranian history is sad. Since ancient times, Iranians were always fighting off invasions.”
Conceptually, the album represents Maral wanting to “push people towards thinking about sound/music in a different way and me pushing myself to create something new—different than my last record,” she continues. “As well as this feeling towards society—of wanting them to push to be better and more forward-thinking in how we can make the world a better place.”
Featuring across the album are Maral’s vocals and also the setar, the instrument of choice for Sufi mystics. The release’s punk and dub influences are reinforced by guest features from dub legend Lee “Scratch” Perry and Penny Rimbaud, co-founder of punk band Crass.
Ahead of the album’s release, Maral has shared “Sweet Thing,” a rework of an old demo that saw her experiment with singing over slowed-down EDM tracks. She worked with So Drove to reproduce the original and re-record the vocals. We’re told that it took a “completely different tone” to what she whispered quickly into a laptop four years ago.
In 2019, Mahar released Mahur Club, an exploration of rhythmic psychedelia, reggaeton, and dub on Los Angeles’ Astral Plane Recordings.
Tracklisting:
01. Kerman Wobble
02. Protect U ft. Lee “Scratch” Perry
03. Push
04. Dashti
05. Bushehr
06. Sweet Thing
07. No Type
08. Aziz-e-Man
09. Jadoo
10. Sweet vs. Heavy
11. Let The Distortion Sing
12. Vortex In Love
13. Lita’s Song
14. They Not They ft. Penny Rimbaud
15. Salam
Maral LP is scheduled for October 14 release. Meanwhile, you can pre-order here and stream “Sweet Thing” and “Dashti” below.
