After 3 albums Antwerp’s noisiest outfit The Hickey Underworld evaporated. They never announced a break up, they just ceased to be… but the genie’s back out of the bottle. Well sorta… Frontman and main songwriter Younes Faltakh is the sole survivor and teamed up with ex Das Pop member Niek Meul. The pair set up camp in Niek’s studio in Oslo and recorded 10 eccentric, mysterious and groovy tracks. Guitars do a lapdance wrapping their tormented strings around a worked-up rhythm section while Younes’ hoarse growl sounds as familiar as it does threatening.
Birthed in post-punk, heavily infused by Eastern psychedelica, and described by their record label [PIAS] as alternative world music, most refer to Arabnormal as ‘a manically zonked-out flying carpet ride’. When performing live, Younes Faltakh is joined by The Hickey Underworld member Jonas Govaerts, Mich Beniest (ex-Deadsets) and Millionaire members Damien Vanderhasselt & Sjoerd Bruil.
Arabnormal’s debut self-titled album was released in February to much acclaim along with the breezy single ‘Digital Veil’. Now, the band are lifting another track from it as a single, the explosive ‘Bubble’. Avoiding clichés, ‘Bubble’ is an outrageous in-your-face speeding off-kilter alt-rock rollercoaster through gritty garage rock shouts and riffs, spiced with quirky twists and turns.
