When you enter the world of Yemen Blues’ song “Miss Ballad,” at least as manifested in its music video, be prepared for layered cultural expressions and references that mutually enrich a unique musical and visual experience. The song itself seems to represent the name of the band because it has a distorted guitar riff in a blues rock mode but the rhythm is more textured and outside conventional Western time signatures. We see figures in Noh theater style masks but with social roles subverted in a surreal fashion the way Devo would do in its own music videos paired well with the message of the lyrics. But here the lyrics are in Arabic yet the meaning if the video is an apt analog is clear regarding social norms and the breaking of social contracts as the story of the video drifts into decidedly sinister territory like an unusual, Japanese horror film. Musically its like if a Krautrock band indulged a moment of more conventional musical style only to bake into it something more subversive. Watch the video for “Miss Ballad” on YouTube and follow Yemen Blues at the links below. The group’s latest album Only Love Remains dropped August 28, 2024.
Queen City Sounds and Art 
You must be logged in to post a comment.