Some release an album a month, while others release an EP every couple of years. art test belongs to the latter group. 2024’s fever dreams collected a series of carefully curated singles, and 2026’s foreign lands does the same, acting as a tiny mix tape. The instrumental hip-hop timbre remains in full effect, while the focus is on Middle Eastern rhythms, a purposeful nod to current events.
“across the oil fields” is especially timely in its title and bittersweet tone. The world continues to rely on oil, the control continues to shift hands, and art test conveys the melancholic undercurrent of a person who has seen the same scenarios play out again and again, generation after generation. The title track offers its own semantic twist; to Western nations, the Middle East is comprised of “foreign lands,” while the opposite is true when the perspectives are flipped. The track combines Western beats with Eastern strings, offering a third alternative. Older readers may remember a similar time in music, around the turn of the century, when empathy for people around the world was translated into dance music.
In the modern era, the very idea of a “ceasefire” seems open to interpretation. Over the past few weeks, many have been called, many have been broken, and some have been broken while the antagonists have insisted that they have not. The entire system of negotiation is flawed. In the track of the same name, optimism is replaced by forlorn resignation, emphasizing the “down” in “downtempo.” By ending in “plumes of smoke,” art test communicates trepidation, but the very existence of the music is a testimony of hope. (Richard Allen)
a closer listen 