Release Date: Jul 8, 2008
Genre(s): Electronic
Record label: Warp
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It’s been 10 years since London-based Iranian musician Leila Arab made a mark with her peerless debut, Like Weather. She’s only allowed one other full-length audio venture to seep out in the intervening time: Courtesy of Choice, which was released by XL in 2000. Unusually for a musician who works in the field of electronic music, her music has barely aged.
Her first album in eight years and her Warp debut, Leila's Blood, Looms and Blooms almost didn't happen: after the release of 2000's moody, murky The Courtesy of Choice, she lost both of her parents and, for a long time, her interest in making music. With the encouragement of her friends and family, Leila returned to the studio and recorded these songs, often with her family and friends -- who include Terry Hall and Martina Topley-Bird -- in there with her. While Blood, Looms and Blooms' very existence is somewhat surprising, it's even more remarkable that this is Leila's most uplifting work, given the loss that preceded it.
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