After a digital single on Optimo Music Digital Danceforce, Optimo Music welcomes Selwa Abd aka Bergsonist to the main label with a full album, Middle East.
Bergsonist aka Selwa Abd is a New York–based artist and musician originally from Morocco, and she’s one of the most prolific figures in New York’s techno-adjacent underground. Under the guise Bergsonist (derived from Deleuze’s Bergsonism), she uses a variety of media to investigate social resonance through divergent conceptual aesthetics (minimalism, techno, and music concrete, to name a few). Through her work, she explores notions of identity, memory, and social politics.
In addition to the autobiographical theme, Middle Ouest is notable for its generous use of hand drums. That endlessly satisfying palm-to-skin thwack animates several of the album’s best tracks, including the cacophonous “Middle Ouest”. For those still looking for a way into Bergsonism, it may be the best expression yet of Abd’s nebulous, intuitive and personal approach. Selwa said some words about the album: “Middle Ouest is an ode to my history, present and future self. Like a sonic autobiography, it’s the first body of work that realistically depicts my identity. It’s a statement towards all the people who tried to put me into a box.”
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Middle Ouest is available now on Optimo Music. Discover the album artwork made by Selwa Abd herself below.
