Press Review // Snakeskin // We live in sand

Acclaim for We live in sand, the latest album by Lebanese dreampop duo Snakeskin, released by Ruptured & Beacon Sound in October 2025:

“Snakeskin don’t so much shed layers from release to release, they harden their resolve, reinforcing their messaging into songs which are even more powerful and defining… [They] have created an extraordinary sound document which is so poignant in these troubled times and which will remain enlightening for much longer.” – John Parry, Backseat Mafia https://www.backseatmafia.com/album-review-snakeskin-we-live-in-sand-enlightening-intense-dream-pop-from-the-ever-impressive-beirut-duo/

“With dark minimalism orchestrated from the bottom of the vortex, if We live in sand doesn’t reduce you to tears, then you’re probably hollow inside. The best art often comes from the darkest places; the same ones many of us will never encounter.” – Simon Kirk, Sun-13 https://sun-13.com/2025/10/10/snakeskin-we-live-in-sand/

“There’s a chilling disconnect at the heart of Lebanese duo Snakeskin’s third album, We live in sand: On the surface, their music invokes a lineage of wistfully melodic electronic pop. But once you dig into the album’s lyrics, a far bleaker scenario presents itself. Beneath the sweetness of the music, Sabra lays bare the tragedy playing out across the border—and on our screens, in our feeds, in our thoughts and consciences.” – Phil Sherburne via substack https://futurismrestated.substack.com/p/fr-140-spheres-nexuses-horizons

We live in sand is an emotionally weighty album, though it’s also one in which the Lebanese duo manage to find beauty in the darkness.” – Shawn Reynaldo via substack https://firstfloor.substack.com/p/first-floor-285-money-matters

“There’s an uncompromising authenticity to the album, presenting each track as a visceral interpretation of mourning. Amidst the starkness, hope could easily seem lost. Yet the album’s most powerful moments emerge in subtle but striking sparks of defiance and resilience; and that, in itself, is a form of hope.” – SceneNoise https://scenenoise.com/New-Music/Snakeskin-s-We-Live-in-Sand-Captures-Hope-Amidst-Destruction

“There’s an atmosphere of grief, anger and frustration throughout, but as with so much of the music Sabra and Tabbal make — together or separately — there is hope here too.” – Arab News https://www.arabnews.com/node/2619195/lifestyle

“Over a decade of collaboration, producer Fadi Tabbal and singer-songwriter Julia Sabra have sculpted a sound that is both melancholic and radiant: a haunting palette of reflection, collapse and resistance that keeps developing in their new album We live in sand.” – Le Guess Who? https://leguesswho.com/news/snakeskin-new-album

“The provisional nature of life in a country touched by war has infused all of Snakeskin’s music with an urgent beauty, made of dream-state laments, elegiac organ drones and the glitch and glitter of electronic pop beats.” – Dusted Magazine https://dustedmagazine.tumblr.com/post/796850309807882240/snakeskin-we-live-in-sand-rupturedbeacon

Featured in Will Hermes New Music + Old Music substack: https://newmusicoldmusic.substack.com/p/singing-the-unspoken

Utility Fog broadcast on FBi Radio by Peter Hollo: https://www.fbi.radio/programs/utility-fog/episodes/utility-fog-28th-september-2025


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Photo by Mohamad Abdouni

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