Civilistjävel! x Mayssa Jallad: Marjaa: The Battle Of The Hotels (Versions) LP

Civilistjävel! x Mayssa Jallad's ‘Marjaa: The Battle Of The Hotels (Versions)’ is a radical response to Jallad's 2023 original LP, a lyrical account of epochal events in Beirut at the dawn of Lebanon's civil war. ‘(Versions)’ sees Civilistjävel! (aka Swedish producer Tomas Bodén) apply a stripped, dub methodology to Mayssa's rich stems, refracting the Arabic source through the hazy prism of Northern European electronica. Retaining the deep spatial framing and vaporous, shifting nature of ‘Marjaa‘, traces are lifted and set down in a new landscape: a ghost of a ghost. Informed by Tomas' singular strand of ambient, minimalist, dub techno, ‘(Versions)’ recalls the reductive, shimmering pulse of pioneering Berlin-based practitioners Basic Channel/Chain Reaction, but with the parameters stretched into the ether. Where versions typically focus on a rhythm, here the anchor is the tone and texture of Mayssa's voice, around which a new world has been constructed. Disembodied and liminal, it conjures an eerie panorama that feels like a postscript to the original, further emphasizing the geopolitical events that have had such devastating effect in Mayssa's homeland of Lebanon since that record's release. Mastered by Amir Shoat, the LP is pressed in a black vinyl edition of 450 copies and housed in a 350gsm Cairn Natural Kraft board outer sleeve printed with black and double-white ink, and a black paper inner sleeve.