Album Review: Hanni El Khatib - Head In The Dirt

Nobody cuts to the chase quite like Hanni El Khatib. On his second outing Head In The Dirt, he is energetic grunt, sweat and rock'n'roll in the truest sense of the term. The influence of producer Dan Auerbach (The Black Keys) oozes from every rhythm and blues guitar lick, in songs that capture a rollicking perfection in simplicity. Each song bolts out of the gate with equal vigour, a gusto that could set feet alight on a dancefloor. Meanwhile Khatib's voice is clearer than on his debut record, he accentuates every word, charisma dripping from each note.

Variety springs forth in curious organ notes and occasional horns, like on Penny, but its when he's thrashing guitars with lashings of fuzzed out vocals atop it on Family that Khatib is thriving in his natural surrounds. Add some hand claps in the bridge and the aesthetic is complete. By Can't Win Em All, his voice is gargling amongst the multiple echoes bouncing off the walls, teamed with a jagged riff. In the reappropriation of standard blues chords on songs like Save Me, it is abundantly clear that Khatib knows his music history, and how to use it to create something new and exhilarating with that appreciation.

The songs are short and abrupt, no messing around. Not a second on this record is wasted, nor a tune left in as filler. In half an hour, Khatib evokes primal emotions in listeners that one can only imagine will be compounded by the live experience, a scenario in which these songs will undoubtedly flourish.