Kill Me or Negotiate

Egyptian vocalist and trumpeter Abdullah Miniawy and French electronicist Simo Cell have been collaborating for just over two years, tinkering away in the latter's studio on the outskirts of Paris. This six-track LP is their first release, available in digital and vinyl forms on the Marseille-based label Brothers from Different Mothers. Cell has also recorded for Bristol's Livity Sound label, while Miniawy has worked with fellow trumpeter Erik Truffaz. Miniawy's stated aim is ‘an expression of religion, revolution and freedom,' contributing vocals to half of the tracks, drawing on his other experiences as an actor, writer and orator. He emanates an artistic authority way beyond his 26 years.

Miniawy's trumpet fanfare dominates ‘Sama (Learning How to Fly)’, captured with a close-up, granular recording focus, Cell using sonic processing methods that sound like they were born within the electro-acoustic portals of IRCAM. Refracted horn particles glimmer over terse stiletto-beats and maggot-crawling basslines. Minimalism is prime throughout, as Miniawy uses the middle trio of tracks to declaim inside a dramatic chamber-vaulting reverberation, climaxing with an extreme vibrato expression on ‘Pending in the Pattern’. The dance floor is hinted at, but in a very clipped, minimal manner. Once again, during ‘Music Gene’, the vocal performance ascends several levels in its climactic minute, Miniawy knowing how to fully focus his intensity, as epic reserves are pointedly released.