Marzipan

Habibi Funk continues to deliver on its promise of rare, sometimes vintage, always interesting gems from the Arab world. The latest, and no exception, is Lebanese producer and multi-instrumentalist Megarbane's Marzipan. An eclectic collection of 17 contemporary instrumental tracks all coming under Megarbane's self-styled ‘Lebrary’: a vision, as he puts it, of Lebanon and the Mediterranean expressed through ‘the kaleidoscopic sonics of library music.’ Ranging from the obliquely cinematic (‘Yara’) to the downright funky (‘Abou Boutros’), Marzipan takes us on a journey around Middle Eastern psychedelia, through 1960s southern Italian soft jazz, with a little detour down to Afrobeat and then returning to the laidback charms of 70s and 80s Levantine pop. ‘Chez Mounir’ evokes the Lebanese countryside's folksy charm while ‘Portemilio’ could be taken straight from the beach scene of a bittersweet 1960s Egyptian romantic movie — all languid stares, long sandy walks and slowly parting hands. When, at times, this album teeters on schmaltziness, Megarbane's slick, clever and catchy tunes, such as ‘Ya Salam’, pull things back just in time and return the journey to a safe course.