The Lebanese artist on the haunting quality of a Fennesz classic
The premise of One Track Mind is pretty simple: I ask artists to pick one track that means a lot to them – either something they’ve discovered recently, something that’s been with them for years, or one that reminds them of a specific time in their life or career – and tell me what makes it so special to them. I get to talk to the artists I love, and they get to talk about the artists they love. Love all round!
Lebanese musician, performer, visual artist and composer Charbel Haber has spent more than two decades at the forefront of Beirut’s experimental music community. Whether composing for multidisciplinary projects or developing his own solo material, Haber has built a reputation for creating immersive, emotionally resonant works.
His latest album, May a soft sun bless your sky while you wait for the inevitable, was written following his move from Beirut to Paris and reflects on themes of distance, exile, mortality and the search for tenderness amid uncertainty. Recorded in Paris and completed through collaborations spanning Beirut and Montreal, the album unfolds through slowly evolving compositions built from layered guitars, loops and electronic textures.
For his One Track Mind, Haber has chosen a haunting track from Fennesz’s 2004 album Venice.
Charbel Haber on Fennesz – Transit feat. David Sylvian
The track I pick would be Transit from Christian Fennesz’ record Venice, with David Sylvian singing. That track haunts me since I discovered it more than 20 years ago. It’s a traveller’s song.
The loneliness of Europe’s airports when I’m on tour, the acceptance of the idea that we die alone and the cigarette that is kept for last. The melancholy reflected by sylvian’s voice and fennesz’s glitches, the last human talking to the last machine, in conversation about the end of mankind caused by alienation and digital isolation. The fall of empires but not in a blaze, just out of boredom and detachment from each other. It reminds me a lot of Paul Auster’s novel In The Country of Last Things.
This track is best when walking in the quiet Venetian streets, away from the tourists, feeling like the last of your kind, on your last stroll through the ruins of civilization.
Chabel Haber – May a soft sun bless your sky while you wait for the inevitable is out now
The Predatory Wasp 