If music is, indeed, an ineffable thing that gets to the very truth of the human condition like nothing else, we might not be giving its proper due as we stuff ourselves with 10-second hooks designed to create TikTok stars, sell jeans and promote the new Sabrina Carpenter record.
And, if music, as, in fact, all of art, exists somewhere in the Universe just waiting to be discovered, we’d do well to honour the people venturing out to find it. All art exists at any time, but just spend half an hour with a piano without knowing how to play it, or what to play on it, and you’re unlikely to write anything majestic.
Samer Fanek’s piano compositions, which are found on the Jordanian artist’s new album, “Forever Elsewhere,” are one more reminder that, as with any style, the music is the thing worth paying attention to, and not the image, the name, or the flashing lights.
In fact, pay enough attention to Fanek’s music and you may well find yourself part of the magic that the artist has created, inside it rather than looking from afar, spinning the wheel rather than looking at it go.
Fanek’s ability is to make sophisticated musical arrangements sound friendly. Just listen to the album’s opener, the title track, “Forever Elsewhere,” and let yourself fade into the sound. Before you know it, the beautiful melodies and swirling arpeggios will feel as natural as taking a deep breath.
Besides, strictly speaking, this isn’t an album that requires you to dust off your best suit and clean your fancy shoes before engaging with it. There are traces of 70s prog-rock and even singer-songwriter material that regular pop-rock fans are likely to enjoy. “Glass Half Empty,” for example, could just as well have been an expensively-produced Billy Joel number.
The easy-going nature of the record also means that when Samer Fanek feels like venturing out, like expressing his deepest feelings, there is always something there to balance the eccentricities. Listen to the orchestral arrangement of “Toward the Unknown” or the intimate-sounding “Inner Collapse,” with its almost Chopin-like gentleness.
Yes, Samer Fanek certainly doesn’t make pop music. And while his compositions do require your attention, they quickly and easily reward you. Perhaps this music always existed somewhere, trapped in the ether. It took all of Fanek’s struggles, creativity and willingness to share it for that music to be rescued.
Social media links
