PHAROAH CHROMIUM

Pharoah Chromium biography
A self-described "mutoid post-krautrock" project from Berlin, Pharoah Chromium is the pseudonym of German-Palestinian musician, composer and interpreter Ghazi Barakat. The veteran of several garage and punk rock bands, Barakat began recording under the Chrome-inspired moniker in the early 2010's, turning away from conventional song structure in favour of experimental electronic surrealist sprawl. Pharoah Chromium stands apart from other electronic projects in the archives for its explicitly pro-Palestine stance and revolutionary angle owing to Barakat's socialist politics. His work takes inspiration from elemental drone group the Dream Syndicate as well as Japanese noise and free jazz artists like C.C.C.C. and Kaoru Abe, with detectable influences from minimalism vanguard Terry Riley and krautrock auteurs Conrad Schnitzler, Ash Ra Tempel and Kluster. Demonstrated on his 2011 debut LP Electric Cremation, Barakat creates abstract electroacoustic soundscapes, fusing traditional Middle Eastern and Indian folk music with dark, kosmische-industrial drones into a shifting, hallucinatory collage. To this end, Barakat uses synthesizers and modified woodwind instruments, processed to sound as alien as the mask he wears for live performances.

Barakat continued exploring his restless style for Pharoah Chromium's sophomore LP, 2012's Azurazia, a conceptual soundtrack to a "film which doesn't exist yet." In collaboration with multi-instrumentalists Arnaud Maguet and Vincent Epplay of krautrock trio Bader Motor, the three craft a fantastical transcultural experience remixed from field recordings of North African music. Glitch and dub elements make appearances on 2013's Vodou Rallizes, and Barakat builds upon the techniques established by Fripp & Eno and Manuel Göttsching on 2014's OXTLR, a collaborative double-album with krautrock guitar legend Günter Schickert.

Beginning with 2015's Chromosphere LP, Barakat's compositional format onwards mostly tends towards two lengthy side-long tracks, with the following three studio releases - 2015's Gaza and 2019's Eros + Massacre and Jean Genet: Quatre heures à Chatila - his most challenging and noisy work. The trilogy is a polyglottal examination of Israeli war crimes in the Gaza Strip, the 1982 Sabra and Shatila massacres and "the downfall of the revolutionary left," juxtaposing spoken word atop harsh, undulating waves of musique concrète.


- Gordy, February 2023