Amman-based Toumba announces Rosefinch, his first EP on wax, and the debut release from London-based record label Hypnic Jerks. The Jordanian DJ, producer and sound designer integrates elements from Jordanian and Levantine folk music into his left-leaning, low-end heavy club sounds. The EP is named after the national bird of Jordan.

Toumba is a curator at MNFA, a club and arts space in Jordan’s capital Amman. It has become a haven for the country’s artistic community in the face of a conservative establishment that often harbours a hostile attitude towards the types of cultural expression that MNFA champions.

A nationally respected artist, Toumba also holds a residency at the MMAG Foundation in Amman. The foundation works with a selection of the most gifted artists in the Levant (Jordan, Syria, Lebanon and Palestine), providing a space for artistic research, production and critical discourse.

Multipack of Limes is a percussive workout dotted through with zesty keys, building up to a driving lead that recalls the keyboard players of Jordanian weddings. Shurooq and Sa7rawi are both representative of Jordan’s beautiful pink-tinted deserts. Shurooq, meaning ‘sunrise’, is a slow burner, which builds anticipation through its synth and percussive elements before a huge weighty sub-bass ties the track together. Sa7rawi, an aggressive peak-time chugger, evocatively conveys the beauty and harsh ruggedness of the desert’s terrain. Lil Amam Sir, a term used in the army meaning “march forward”, is one for the DJs: a four to the flour banger complete with microtonal polyrhythm synth hits that are sure to get the crowd two-stepping like clockwork.
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