Pulse by Qur’an Shaheed

With skyrocketing prices, stagnating wages, and ballooning distractions, we live in a world increasingly interested in preventing us from developing into the greatest possible versions of ourselves. Experimental electronic artist Qur’an Shaheed takes that increasingly rare dive into self-actualization on Pulse, characterizing spiritual, moral, and creative development as the ultimate forms of liberation. A staggering array of influences fold into this maximalist sound, pulling from 2000s pop, abstract electronic dance music, electroacoustic sound art, and 2010s rnb aesthetics to form something instantly individual, augmenting themes of self-discovery through the display of such an enigmatic and singular taste. While we watch Shaheed’s development as an artist progress in real time with such expert handling of diverse source material, each song takes a further descending step into the speaker’s self, words gradually falling away as deeper levels of synthesis push the sound to even higher levels of individuality. Capital would love nothing more for you to never find yourself, but art, especially in its freest, least commercial forms, provides one of the last available channels to undeniable enlightenment.