Caïn و Muchi Explore Postcolonial Trauma on Debut LP ‘Dounia’

Moroccan-French duo Caïn و Muchi portrays the introspective act of witnessing the turmoil of our current world on their debut LP ‘Dounia’.

Caïn و Muchi, the brainchild live project of Vanda Forte and Sinclair Ringenbach, is recognised for their distinct sound design and intricate productions fusing elements from traditional music from the MENA region with experimental club sounds.

Their debut LP ‘Dounia’ is a dense yet harmoniously cohesive sonic palette of industrial gloom blending elements from dubstep, grime, and contemporary hip-hop. Encompassing nine tracks, the record was conceived as part of a live performance concept by Caïn و Muchi, presenting a series of musical rituals inspired by the traditional rhythms of Ganwa.

The album’s raw and hauntingly melancholic lyricism explores themes of mental health, social oppression and the human condition through the introspective lens, detailing layers of stress and trauma linked to the colonial experience, intertwined with multiple references to North African ghost stories and anecdotes.

Throughout the album, Vanda’s ghostly vocals waft through repetitive, deconstructed rhythms of guembri bass and high-frequency percussive pulses from instruments like shakers and qraqeeb, as she sings in a variety of Arabic dialects, inventing words and treating language like mathematical equations to craft unique geometric sound forms that complement the structure of each track.

On the opening track, ‘Ilahi’, spirituality is placed as the focal point of order and balance amidst the chaos of reality, as the duo sonically encapsulates the sense of comfort often found in the Sufi practices with a looping trance beat that is not overshadowed by lyrics, but rather intersected with a meditative humming sound.

Vanda’s affinity for allegories in songwriting prevails throughout the record, predominantly on ‘Shayatine’ where she uses satin as a vehicle for expressing the collective suffering of humans with a decolonial eye. However, on ‘Jawadi’, in a flickering aura of deconstructed sounds, glitches and noise textures contrasted with spoken verses delivered in a contemporary hip-hop flow, Vanda goes back to the theme of spirituality, invoking the saints and spirits she has encountered throughout her life in Morocco.

Meanwhile, on ‘Gecko Rec’, featuring Egyptian producer and DJ Assyouti, the duo offers a portrayal of the perpetual quest for identity and universal balance in an ever-changing world, through wrapped dance floor snaps, intense rhythmic betas and distorted drum samples.