FAIRWEATHERMYTH + AOTY 2024 #4 ⌁ Nemahsis - Verbathim
Over its 12 songs, Hasan steadily unspools her narrative through radically precise pop. She sifts through suppressed emotions, setting vibrant lyrics against pattering drums, ringing electric guitars and rhythmic bass lines. Hasan channels life lessons from her dad in ‘Coloured Concrete’ and flips poetry into song on ‘Miss Construed’ and ‘Spinning Plates’. Even in its title and sound alone, ‘Verbathim’ is a self-determined statement of being. // I wanted people to mark my words with the things that I was saying long before October 2023. Then, I was stripped of all connection and ostracized. It felt biblical and like someone [was] holding my tongue. I wanted [the title] to be as if someone grabbed my tongue in the middle of saying ‘verbatim’. It’s going to be historical, especially when Palestine is free.