The Deep End
Sony
***
Tash is the Middle East's great pop hope - he is the first local signing by Sony Entertainment Middle East. Being the only artist in the roster put the 24-year-old in the enviable position of being the label's centre of attention.
He has already been made the face of Sony's new tablet and his single Habibi Leh has hit the radio after heavy promotion from the label.
Now his debut album The Deep End arrives and it does hint at a promising talent. The album heavily trades on Tash's Turkish Cypriot roots, with pop melodies sung over eastern rhythms.
One could say the album is a modern pop-fusion exercise with both East and West blending together with sweet melodic results. Habibi Leh is a fine single deserving of its radio attention, courtesy of its hookey chorus. Hypnotised benefits from first-rate R&B production with Tash sounding like a seasoned performer, while the bouncy Antidote will surely be popular among the club set.
The album's high marks benefit from Tash inserting his eclectic personality with his mixing of Arabic and English phrases within songs.
But when he plays it straight, the album suffers. Full On sounds anaemic with its placid euro-pop beat, while the harshly auto-driven Snake has Tash sounding like a computer programme in pop mode. The album picks up again towards the end with the propulsive In My Head, a track you can dance to in a western club or use to start a dabke at a local wedding.
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