A non-exhaustive look at some of the reviews for Mayssa Jallad’s album Marjaa: The Battle Of The Hotels, released by Ruptured In March 2023 (digital) and by Ruptured & Six of Swords in October 2023 (vinyl).
“Singer/songwriter and urban researcher Mayssa Jallad (draws) a map of the battle with her music, vocals and acoustic guitar, accompanied by Fadi Tabbal’s synths, percussion and field recordings.” – The Wire, #41 Best Albums of 2023
www.thewire.co.uk/audio/tracks/the-wire-s-releases-of-the-year-2023
Lars Gotrich, All Songs Considered (NPR Radio), The Best Experimental Music of 2023:
https://www.npr.org/2024/01/02/1197958329/vikings-choice-2023
“It’s a remarkable conceit for an album, and though the magic realist lyrics may be lost on non-Arabic speakers, her incredibly nuanced voice and arrangements—a beautiful mixture of goth-tinged dream pop, drone, ambient—convey both the gravitas and surrealism of the subject matter. For fans of Grouper, Lucrecia Dalt, Martyna Basta, Mabe Fratti, et al.” – Philip Sherburne, Futurism Restated Substack, Overlooked Albums of 2023
https://futurismrestated.substack.com/p/futurism-restated-44-records-i-missed
“With the help of Fadi Tabbal and a selection of Ruptured-affiliated musicians, we’re treated to a highly evocative & moving collection of narrative songs (even for those of us who don’t speak Arabic), which musically inhabit a space on the corner of 1970s US folk, Arabic melisma and sound-art. A haunting, engrossing work.” – Peter Hollo, Utility Fog (FBi Radio), Best Albums of 2023
https://www.frogworth.com/utilityfog/archives/2023/12/17/playlist-17th-dec-2023-best-of-2023-part-1/
“There’s a stoic determination in the purposeful acoustic guitar strums that hold the fractured sonic architecture of Mayssa Jallad’s “Markaz Azraq (December 6)” together. Her words carry the weight of a thousand suns. Still, her delivery is plaintive and unafraid as she tells the story of a nameless man who lost both sons during the Battle of the Hotels. Once the instrumental palette expands, the warm glow from Fadi Tabbal’s synth personifies the steely perseverance needed in the face of such destruction.” – Brad Rose, Foxy Digitalis
https://foxydigitalis.zone/2023/04/18/lingering-scars-an-interview-with-mayssa-jallad/
Also included in Foxy Digitalis’s Best Albums of 2023:
https://foxydigitalis.zone/2023/12/21/2023-favorites-songs-of-our-lives-style/
“In the end, the album, like the city on which it is based, feels like an infinite loop of history, relayed through the brave yet saintly voice of an artist who has taken the task of documenting the past through music.” – Christina Hazboun, Bandcamp
https://daily.bandcamp.com/features/mayssa-jallad-marjaa-battle-of-the-hotels-interview
“The 12-track record blends Arabic blues with folk, synth, oud and electronic elements with field-recorded soundbites of traffic or thuds that sound like distant gunfire. Jallad’s incredible vocals chronicle what storied buildings such the Holiday Inn, Burj El Murr and Haigazian University witnessed during the war.” – Maghie Ghali, The National News
https://www.thenationalnews.com/weekend/2023/11/24/mayssa-jallad-music-album-beirut-civil-war-buildings/
“The result is a starkly beautiful soundscape. There is a somber, atmospheric dreaminess to the album, which is powered by the ethereal wonder of Jallad’s vocals. Largely acoustic, it nevertheless delves into the realm of dark ambience, creating an occasional sense of militarism or otherworldliness.” – Iain Akerman, Arab News
https://www.arabnews.pk/node/2345016/lifestyle
“In an overwhelmingly creative and critical act, Mayssa Jallad turns the destruction of the Lebanese Civil War into a stunning, two-sided album driven by poetic songwriting mixed with historical narration, lush strings and synths, gentle drones, and her incredible vocal prowess.” – Maha ElNabawi, SceneNoise
https://scenenoise.com/Reviews/Mayssa-Jallad-Drops-Emotive-Debut-Solo-Album-Marjaa
Also included in SceneNoise’s Best Albums of 2023 (Middle East & North Africa):
https://scenenoise.com/Reviews/Best-Albums-Of-2023-Middle-East-North-Africa
“Marjaa: The Battle Of The Hotels is a record that sidesteps the pitfalls that other works concerned with atmosphere or memory fall into. Jallad’s record acts as a slow burning process of revelation.” – Richard Foster, The Quietus
https://thequietus.com/articles/33629-mayssa-jallad-interview-marjaa-the-battle-of-the-hotels
“Singer/songwriter and architectural historian Mayssa Jallad and a host of Lebanese musicians have made a rich, sometimes transcendiary sonic mapping of a memory of war. This is an extraordinary record and one that you should approach with no qualms… like Matana Roberts’ work, this is a soundtrack that directly deals with traumatic memories that have ceased to inhabit their original form and need to be conjured up in ways that both lure the listener in, and allow the information to be imparted in a way history is not normally taught… utterly hypnotic… a record that can leave you initially wondering what is going on whilst realising you are listening to something really special… you really should listen to this record, it’s quite brilliant.“ – Richard Foster, Louder Than War
https://louderthanwar.com/mayssa-jallad-marjaa-the-battle-of-the-hotels-review/
“Lebanese singer Mayssa Jallad showcases her incredible voice on debut album Marjaa: The Battle of the Hotels. Her breathy intimacy creates an atmospheric Arabic blues, yearning on album highlight Mudun.” – Ammar Kelia, The Guardian
“Historical trauma, strings, drones, metallophones and buzuks wrap around powerful stories and gossamer vocals on Lebanese singer’s tender, intimate debut. With shades of Nico, Jarboe and Elizabeth Fraser, ’80s’ 4AD fans will rejoice.” – Andy Cowan, MOJO
As it progresses, Marjaa seamlessly fuses folky introspection, orchestrated drama, crackling electronica and field recordings. Sometimes – again, without any incongruity – within the same song… This bold, multi-layered album is utterly accessible. A triumph.” – Kieron Tyler, The Arts Desk
https://theartsdesk.com/new-music/album-mayssa-jallad-marjaa-battle-hotels
“Mayssa’s voice is holy, haunting, throughout, as the music moves from the heavily processed – Kharita, where code crackles like furiously fanned flame – to the “organic” – the prettily picked, prancing, pirouetting, near medieval Baynana, whose dancing lyric recalls the Cocteau Twins’ Liz Frazer’s giddy glossolalia.” – BanBanTonTon
https://banbantonton.com/2023/11/09/mayssa-jallad-marjaa-the-battle-of-the-hotels-six-of-swords/
“The album is a touching homage to a dissociated home full of ghostly places.” – Uwe Schneider, African Paper
http://africanpaper.com/2023/04/29/i-felt-that-the-city-had-witnessed-a-violence-that-nobody-wanted-to-mention-interview-with-mayssa-jallad/
“Marjaa is, as one might expect, a sombre affair largely comprised of Jallad’s delicate vocals backed by acoustic guitar and ethereal synthesizer. Elsewhere, co-composer and producer Fadi Tabbal adds the crackle of distant artillery and a ghostly wind between the high-rise blocks.” – Daniel Spicer, Songlines
“As a lyricist, Jallad is poetically laconic. One track, “Kharita”, from the Dahaliz section, has two just lines: ‘I walk the streets alone, in my hand a map/ That I don’t understand. It’s this precise, minimal weightiness that helps make Marjaa such an accomplished and unusual album.” – Louise Gray, New Internationalist
Featured on Shane Woolman’s broadcast Adventures In Sound And Music for Resonance FM (UK) in July 2023:
https://www.thewire.co.uk/audio/on-air/shane-woolman-presents-adventures-in-sound-and-music-mayssa-jallad-special
Featured on Steve Barker’s broadcast On The Wire for Totally Radio (UK) in October 2023:
https://www.totallyradio.com/shows/on-the-wire/episodes/on-the-wire-22-oct-2023#_
Featured on Bobby Jewell’s broadcast Earth Tones for Resonance FM (UK) in November 2023:
https://extra.resonance.fm/episodes/earth-tones-2023-11-03
Featured on The New Noise’s broadcast Pangea (Italy) in November 2023:
https://www.thenewnoise.it/pangea-250/
Ruptured Music 