13. Bahrain — ‘Winter Stories’ by Mohamed Murbati

When I think of Bahrain, I don’t think of winter. Yet, this album is called ‘Winter Stories’ and includes tracks with titles such as ‘A date with winter’ and ‘It’s raining’.

It’s an instrumental album and feels a bit like a soundtrack. It’s atmospheric, it is indeed quite wintery, and I enjoyed it. Did I feel it transported me to Bahrain? No, although this wasn’t Murbati’s intention. The choice of instruments is clearly following a Western pattern, only a couple of moments have some harmonies that could take you to the Middle East. Otherwise, it is something that resembles Yann Tiersen (especially the last number, ‘Ending Dance’).

It doesn’t sound new, but it is good, and I am looking forward to hearing more from him. I could definitely see him doing very well writing film scores.