CREME DE HASSAN

Creme De Hassan biography
Split between Brussels and Berlin, CRÈME DE HASSAN are a multinational collaborative psychedelic rock duo consisting of American expatriate guitarist Paul LaBrecque and German-Palestinian producer Ghazi Barakat. The project began in early 2016 after a friend of Barakat's suggested he and LaBrecque work together, with recording sessions occurring monthly before the latter moved back to the United States in 2018.

With LaBrecque on guitar and synthesiser and Barakat wielding electronics and traditional wind and string instruments from North Africa and Renaissance-era Europe, CRÈME DE HASSAN meld the respective weirdness of LaBrecque's work in Sunburned Hand Of The Man with Barakat's self-described 'post-krautrock' project Pharoah Chromium, playing hypnotic, droning freeform jams incorporating samples and Middle Eastern folk music.

CRÈME DE HASSAN edited and reworked their archives of improvisations into two full-length LPs on Inversions: 2017's 'Technique & Rite' and 2019's 'Tricontinental Circus' (with the album Terminal Desert released in-between on Karlrecords under the billing LaBrecque/Barakat), with track and album titles reflecting the duo's appreciation for Agitation Free, Brainticket, Master Musicians Of Jajouka, Gong and British polymath Brion Gysin.

(Gordy)