Saudi OST

Following his Pacific Alley album, Krikor Kouchian serves this killer soundtrack to the documentary 'Arabie Saoudite: Les Liaisons Dangerousness' on a deluxe presentation. Where the French TV program focusses on the Saudi royal family’s support of Wahhabism and the West’s appeasement of Saudi foreign policy, Kouchian underlines and accentuates the content with a brooding blend of mirage-like electronics and drum machine geometries that take on a gauzy new life thru the tape format.

In tone and aesthetic Kouchian’s soundtrack feels close to the use of melancholic ambient motifs in Adam Curtis documentaries on the same subject, as the Parisian artist conjures a sort of furtively ephemeral and mystic feel that matches the clash of ancient religion and crude oil-soaked modernity explored by the documentary. However, where Curtis’ soundtracks tend to collage recurring motifs, Kouchian’s emotive nudges are perhaps less ambiguous, lending a decidedly dark, looming shadow to proceedings.

Highly Recommended if you're into Gigi Masin, Low Jack, Terekke, Newworldaquarium, Boards of Canada.