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Exploring escapism and emotional evolution, Bahraini musical maverick Shaikh Hassan bin Rashid Al Khalifa is reaching back through the decades to produce songs for his younger self.
Last weekend, the 48-year-old bard dropped his newest single titled Nothing to Die For in the ramp up to his EP, Outer Space, set to be released later this month.
“Nothing to Die For has one of the first verses I had ever written, more than two decades ago, and it was sort of the first song that I had put together,” he told GulfWeekly, during an interview from New Zealand, where he is currently on vacation
with family.
“In recent years, I have been jamming and digging up some of my old music, and when I found the first verse, the second one quickly came together.
“It felt like I was producing for my 20-something year-old self, as I recorded probably my oldest tune.”
The four-minute electric pop breakup ballad already has more than 30,000 streams on Spotify, and Shaikh Hassan’s recent songs have garnered more than half-a-million streams online.
In the two decades between the two verses of his latest tuneful tryst, the illustrious Shaikh Hassan grew, got married and in many ways, completed his journey from a young singer-songwriter to a mature musician.
The single will be one of five tracks on his upcoming EP, which is scheduled to land on August 23.
The other tracks on the EP will be Barcoded, Outer Space, Maneuvers and Rooftops.
“The Outer Space EP is the follow-up to 21 Grams, my last album, and it’s a combination of tunes I have written over the decades,” the artist explained.
“They all, in a way, deal with escapism, hence Outer Space, and coming out of Covid-19, this feeling is what the title track is based on.
“With a team scattered across the Middle East, this EP was a challenge to record and finalise, but I am so glad to have it all come together.”
Recorded with Bull Funk Zoo and during sessions at MNK Studios in Dubai, the new EP is one of six that the musician has planned over the next phase of his career.
Since his wilder days in the late nineties and aughts, the enigmatic troubadour has returned to the studio with more seasoned ears and years fuelling his passion.
And all that, when he is not busy in his professional role as the chairman of Al Rashid Group, which operates a slew of well-known brands across the kingdom.
He is quick to credit his wife Joanne Al Hashimi for playing a huge role in him returning to the studio.
“She was brutally honest about my music and about it not hitting the mark, while others were like ‘Yeah man, it’s cool’,” he explained.
“And with her support, I had a lot of time to be with myself and focus on family, business, music and horses. She’s a really special person.”
For more details, follow @hassanbinrashidmusic on Instagram.
