I first discovered this record from a fascinating article on Arabic Hauntology. In the article, Alessandro Sbordoni discusses a bit about the ways in which some musicians signed to Habibi Funk Records offer a glimpse of the future that never came. Charif Megarbane is one of these musicians, and this beautiful and evocative LP gives a sense of a Beirut that could have been, if not for civil war, invasion by Israeli forces, sectarian conflict, and the delicate coalition that the Lebanese have cobbled together.

Instead, Megarbane’s record leans into sonic depictions of quiet days at a café, a walk along the beach, and the experience of browsing through old bookstores. My favorite song here is “Pas de Dialogue,” and you have to give it a listen to hear precisely why. It offers tones and rhythms that lean into the thoughtful without being melancholic. There is, in contrast, a serious hope to what will come next. Moreover, the song is busy: murmurs evoke the sounds of voices talking, and there’s even instrumentals that emulate a coffee machine in a 9ahwa ch3abi.

Listening to this LP is an experience of what might have been, rather than what is. Yet, that very “might have been” might allow us glimpses of futures that we would like to construct in place of the ones we are left with. Although I’m not Lebanese, thinking through the present this way has something valuable for all of us.