From the moment they started playing shows there's been buzz in the surf world about The Scimitars, who blend surf and middle eastern music, often with the visual accompaniment of a belly dancer. There's enough reason to be excited just about the surf side of things, as Ran Mosessco's music with the Astroglides and The Sand Devils are great, and Jonpaul Balak on bass is always a big plus. They've been patient letting this sound and these songs develop, with only a single 7" released last year since they started up in 2018, and finally they're ready to debut a full length.
When writing about a record like this, I feel like I have to raise questions of authenticity -- how studious is their approach to middle eastern music, how authentic, or alternately, how much of a bastardization is this? But I'm certainly not qualified to answer that question! I mean, I've bought various belly-dancing records, a bunch of Omar Khorshid, some great records where most of the verbiage on the cover is in sanskrit (I think). I wouldn't mistake this for any of those. But also song titles like "Mystic Sphinxster" suggest that their ethnomusicologist beret isn't that worn that tighty either. The surf music aspect of this is not that buried, and despite playing in different modes etc, I feel like I can still hear Ran's musical signature here. But what makes this immediately interesting is what they do borrow. Traditional drumkit is backed up by hand drums pretty much throughout. Instruments like the saz and sarangi show up (don't be impressed by my knowledge, I'm just reading credits). It's different than just about anything you've heard.
I think being different is immediately enough to make it good, and reviewing this has been difficult because my brain locks onto that exotic aspect and stays there, listening less to the melodies and more the sound of it all. They do have a range! "Taverna" and "Port Saiedy" make it pretty clear that they're not giving up their surf sound, "Marquis de Saz" is more patient and mysterious, perhaps more bellydancing-friendly. "Hafla" has emerged as a favorite of mine, with a quick-picked semi-surf sound subtly harmonized by another, quieter string instrument. "Into the Catacombs" is the slowest track, bordering on meditative, with very interesting dissonant string instruments painting the scene of the title pretty well.
There was one aspect of seeing them live at SG101 in 2022 that really made an impression on me: they really love some rumbling bass. It adds a menace to their sound, an edge that makes this more their own and less about mimicry of another music. I was happy to hear that intact on their 2023 7", and there's more of it here, particularly on songs like "Desert Tales" and "Mr. Saz-Arak."
It's great to hear surf groups continuing to evolve and challenge the genre, and stuff like this is fun not only for us, but for outsiders as well. This is actually not the only attempt I've heard for something like this, but The Scimitars have found and enjoyable balance that feels as fun as it is thought-provoking. There's a lot of instrumental music that's grabbing influences from abroad lately, Khruangbin and their may copycats. I've listened to a lot of them, and what I appreciate here is the more focused scope, giving you more curiosity for what goes into it rather than an impenetrable melting pot of "world music". I don't think The Scimitars are an example of middle-eastern music, but it's enough to light a spark to want to dig deeper. Or not! You could also just listen to this over and over.
Available on vinyl and digital from Hi-Tide and Bandcamp. And it should be at the Surfguitar101 Festival too.
