[Photo Credit: Gregory C. Hagan]
Multi-instrumentalist LEILA ABDUL-RAUF, acclaimed for her evocative and boundary-pushing soundscapes, presents her fifth, most ambitious solo album to date, Calls From A Seething Edge. The album will be released in October as a co-release between Cyclic Law and Syrup Moose, who today unveil the cover art, track listing, preorders, and an intense video for the lead single, “Crimes Of The Soul”, premiered by BrooklynVegan.
LEILA ABDUL-RAUF has been a key member in dozens of musical entities since the 1990s, including Vastum, Ionophore, Cardinal Wyrm, Fyrhtu, and more in recent years, preceded by time spent in Amber Asylum, Hammers Of Misfortune, Bastard Noise, Saros, and more. Over the past decade she’s showcased her talents as a composer, multi-instrumentalist and vocalist through four varied solo efforts, each one more challenging than the last and venturing into new territory of sound and reaching new heights of creativity.
Since her Phantasiai LP in 2021, LEILA ABDUL-RAUF has navigated a world transformed by pandemic emergence, ongoing global conflicts, the resurgence of widespread fascism, and ecological destruction. The new album, Calls From A Seething Edge, is a powerful, conceptual reflection of these immense global and personal upheavals, an album which questions whether an alternative to our destructive ways of operating is possible on a mass level or if they are an inescapable part of the human condition. Moving away from the ambient dreamscapes of her previous works, this album embraces a more epic and rhythmic approach, introducing elements of folk and industrial music. Each note is intentional, articulate, and exposed, creating a sonic journey that is both vast and intimate.
Calls From A Seething Edge sees LEILA ABDUL-RAUF handling all vocals, trumpet, synth, and a variety of programmed beats, drum tracks, choirs, and string quartets, self-recording and producing the album with assistance from Sammy Fielding (Ancient Owl Audio), who also masterfully mixed the album, ensuring each layer of synth, horn, drum, choir, and string quartet could be fully realized. The enigmatic photography gracing the album’s cover is by psychoanalyst, artist, and poet Terrance McLarnan, and the mastering was handled by Frederic Arbour at Cyclic Law Mastering.
Additionally, this ambitious project features contributions from several talented musicians, including Gregory C. Hagan (ex-Common Eider, King Eider, ex-Thomas Carnacki) who provides viola solos that backbone and bookend the album, acoustic guitar from Derrick Vella (Tomb Mold, Dream Unending), hand percussion and additional drum sampling by Sam Foster (ex-Saros, ex-Weakling), violin from Ryan Honaker (Ionophore, Betterthief), electric cello and upright bass from Vincent van Veen (Kali Ra), and acoustic upright bass by Ed Lloyd Grey.
The world is on edge. Embrace the void as LEILA ABDUL-RAUF’s Calls From A Seething Edge takes you to the seething edge of existence. This album teaches us to breathe without breath and live where there is no life. Wartime never began…never did it end.
Calls From A Seething Edge’s sixth track, ‘Crimes Of The Soul’, has been unveiled as the album’s lead single. The song, which features additional drum sampling by Sam Foster, is delivered in the form of an evocative war-torn video for the song, which was filmed by Gregory C. Hagan and directed/edited by David Brenner (Gridfailure, Diminishing).
LEILA ABDUL-RAUF reveals, “Musically it’s the most synth-heavy and rhythmically driving track on the album. Unlike my previous work which mostly reflected inward, these lyrics direct outward, confronting the darkest sides of humanity—its ability to perpetually commit, deny, and repeat genocide to maintain economic and geopolitical power and control. The song ponders the questions: Is this degree of violence a natural instinct or learned, and what does it matter if humans have the capacity to overcome it? And if we do have that capacity, will we be around long enough as a species to evolve, considering we’re likely at the point of no return from ecological disaster?”
With their premiere of the new video, BrooklynVegan writes, “It’s an eerie, brooding, tension-building song…”
Watch LEILA ABDUL-RAUF’s gut-wrenching ‘Crimes Of The Soul’ video at BrooklynVegan
Calls From A Seething Edge will be released on October 11th, on all digital platforms, on vinyl through Cyclic Law [100 copies on Marbled Black And White, 200 copies on Black, in a gatefold LP sleeve], and on tape via Syrup Moose [limited to 50 with a UV printed cassette], with both labels co-releasing the album on CD in a 6-panel digisleeve with matte lamination.
Find preorders for all formats HERE
Watch for additional videos/singles from the album to be issued over the weeks ahead surrounding its release.
Calls From A Seething Edge Track List:
- Summon
- Mukhalafat
- Depths Of Us
- Failure To Fire
- The Light That Left You
- Crimes Of The Soul
- The Summoned