{"id":1855298,"date":"2026-03-30T10:21:00","date_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:21:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1855298"},"modified":"2026-03-30T10:21:00","modified_gmt":"2026-03-30T07:21:00","slug":"arabic-shoegaze-duo-kiss-facility-speak-a-language-deeper-than-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=1855298","title":{"rendered":"Arabic shoegaze duo Kiss Facility speak a language deeper than words"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/307-347-1433-955\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442332.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article class=\"main-article standard \">\n<div class=\"article-main-content article-wrapper has-media-but-its-an-image\" data-status=\"loaded\" data-primary-article=\"true\" data-url=\"\/music\/article\/69966\/1\/arabic-shoegaze-duo-kiss-facility-sega-bodega-mayah-alkhateri\" data-article-id=\"69966\">\n<header class=\"article-header has-landscape-image no-media\">\n<div class=\"wrapper dg-max-width\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<figure class=\"main-img has-figcaption\" data-img-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\" data-img-aspect-ratio=\"1.33\" data-template=\"Standard Article\"><span class=\"has-css-custom-props image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt=\"KISSFACILITY0774\" class=\"img\" height=\"1536\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1400\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442332.jpg\" width=\"2048\"><\/span><\/span><figcaption class=\"img-caption\"><span class=\"inner\"><span class=\"credit\">Courtesy of <span class=\"nowrap\">Kiss Facility<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<aside class=\"meta\">\n<div class=\"inner\"><time datetime=\"2026-03-30T10:21:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"30 March 2026\"><span class=\"month\">March<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"30\">30,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<div class=\"titles\">\n<div class=\"tags\">\n<div class=\"sections\"><a class=\"category vertical - music\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a><br \/>\n\/<br \/>\n<a class=\"series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/q-and-a\">Q+A<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"standard-tag-container\"><a class=\"standard-category\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\">Music<\/a> \/<br \/>\n<a class=\"standard-series\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/q-and-a\">Q+A<\/a><\/div>\n<h1 class=\"title\"><span>Arabic shoegaze duo Kiss Facility speak a language deeper <span class=\"nowrap\">than words<\/span><\/span><\/h1>\n<div class=\"standfirst\">\n<h2>We speak to Salvador Navarrete (AKA Sega Bodega) and Mayah Alkhateri about Palestinian poetry, the Backstreet Boys, and the songs that made up their <span class=\"nowrap\">debut album<\/span><\/h2>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-03-30T10:21:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"30 March 2026\"><span class=\"month\">March<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"30\">30,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p><time datetime=\"2026-03-30T10:21:00+00:00\" class=\"timestamp\" title=\"30 March 2026\"><span class=\"month\">March<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"day\" data-day=\"30\">30,<\/span>\u00a0<br \/>\n<span class=\"year\">2026<\/span><\/time><\/p>\n<div class=\"providers\">\n<div class=\"contributors\"><span class=\"contributor\" data-contributor-role=\"Text\"><span class=\"contributor-role\">Text<\/span><a class=\"contributor-name\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/user\/solomonpacemccarrick\">Solomon Pace-McCarrick<\/a><\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/header>\n<div class=\"article-body-container\">\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Something strange happened while Salvador Navarrete (AKA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/segabodega\/\">Sega Bodega<\/a>) and Mayah Alkhateri \u2013 partners both in life and in music \u2013 were making <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kissfacility\/?hl=en\">Kiss Facility\u2019s<\/a> debut album, <\/span><em><span>Khazna<\/span><\/em><span>. Galway-born Navarrete doesn\u2019t speak a word of Arabic, but when he heard UAE-raised Alkhateri\u2019s lyrics for dreamy techno cut \u201cKotshena\u201d, he immediately began describing the exact image she was singing about. \u201cIt was honestly scary,\u201d Alkhateri tells Dazed, laughing in disbelief. Navarrete, however, found a deeper meaning in the interaction: \u201cSometimes you don\u2019t even need to be heard to be understood. That\u2019s why music is so powerful. Once it\u2019s done and you hand it over to people, they understand what you\u2019re saying \u2013 even when they don\u2019t know they understand.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s a phenomenon that I\u2019ve experienced myself while interviewing artists from around the world, giving rise to an irrational (though not necessarily untrue) belief that when an emotion is pure, it can transcend language. And, in our interview at least, Kiss Facility certainly seemed underpinned by pure emotions. Alkhateri and Navarrete first connected when Alkhateri shared a Sega Bodega release on her Instagram story, and, after a year-long talking stage, they eventually met up for a drink in London. \u201cIt was a brief interaction but, the moment I met her, I was like, \u2018How do I [see her again]?\u2019,\u201d recalls Navarrete. \u201cI was leaving the next day to do some shows, and I just booked her on the next flight out. It was meant to be, honestly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It was only after they were cemented as a couple that Mayah confessed her aspirations of making music. \u201cI wanted to make music before then, but every time I met someone to make music, they wanted to take it to a sexual level, [so] I grew out of wanting it,\u201d she explains. \u201cThen, it just clicked with Salv. I told him I had heard lots of shoegaze music and always wanted to have that in the Arabic language. Then, literally the day before we released \u2018Blackstone\u2019, an Iraqi artist called Nabeel released his shoegaze song. There was definitely something in the air of Arabic artists finally entering that style.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"PB3NnRYHmgc\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PB3NnRYHmgc\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Indeed, more widely, much has been written about the resurgence of shoegaze sonics among Gen Z listeners. Dubbing the trend \u2018zoomergaze\u2019, critics have observed a hauntological link between the fuzzy walls of sound that defined acts like Slowdive and the Cocteau Twins in the 90s, and today\u2019s post-Covid youth. Having grown up in an age defined by superficial online connections and diminishing prospects for the future, they suggest that young people are finding solace not only in shoegaze\u2019s melancholic sonics themselves, but also in returning to a time when life seemed to be less stressful \u2013 quite literally forming zoomers\u2019 rose-tinted gaze at a time gone by.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While Navarrete was keen to distance himself from the label on Kiss Facility\u2019s debut album (\u201cThere\u2019s only like two shoegaze tracks on there \u2013 we\u2019ve just been put in that box\u201d), it does seem to mark something of a parallel future for the genre. <\/span><span>Where shoegaze\u2019s recent revival in acts like Wisp and Jane Remover finds a quicker and more hot-headed union with hyperpop, Kiss Facility draws on the decidedly (c)older references of trip-hop, techno and dream-pop (the duo\u2019s first album even included a feature from \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/68897\/1\/a-rare-interview-with-poison-girl-friend-dream-pops-future-seer\">dream pop future seer<\/a>\u2019 POiSON GiRL FRiEND herself). Rather than evoking overpopulated online spaces, <\/span><em><span>Khazna<\/span><\/em><span>\u2019s reverb-drenched soundscapes<\/span><span>create space, casting Navarrete and Alkhateri as lovers at the end of the world, yearning for connection over a seemingly infinite distance. It\u2019s less of a comforting wall of sound than an empty warehouse, and more of a thousand-yard stare than a shoe-gaze.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Below,\u00a0<\/span><span>Alkhateri and Navarrete further unpack the themes and experiences that underpin their debut album, <\/span><em>Khazna<\/em>, including a playlist of songs that inspired the project.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html-embed\"><iframe data-testid=\"embed-iframe\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/playlist\/5gDpNh3mqvbIa6yL0nj4Zq?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>The playlist you shared is mostly English-language music. Would you say that\u2019s where most of your inspiration came from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Alkhateri:<\/strong><span> Definitely<\/span><span>. I\u2019m not gonna sit here and say, \u2018Oh, we got inspiration from Arabic music\u2019. No, I got inspiration from my own vocals. There are Arabic songs I grew up with that shaped the melodies I\u2019m making, but I don\u2019t have any specific song for it, it\u2019s just in my memory. I\u2019ve always loved music from different languages \u2013 Persian music has rich writing and melody, Balkan culture has crazy songs, I also love Turkish music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On the vocal side, I would say Enya [was a big influence], in terms of doing vocals with gibberish lyrics and creating your own language. When I first heard her, I was like, \u2018What is she saying?\u2019 Now, I get it, because people generally don\u2019t like listening to lyrics they don\u2019t understand, but people are now increasingly aware that music is actually just about how you feel. I just want the songs to make me feel something.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>How does that connect to your process, Salv, given that you don\u2019t understand the lyrics?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Navarrete:<\/strong><span> I think that applies to when you can understand the lyrics, too. Feelings can often be lost in phonetics. A lot of times I work with singers, they\u2019ll do a take and it\u2019s got the feeling in it. Then they go, \u2018Well, I don\u2019t know, I feel like I\u2019m not saying the words right, let me do it again\u2019. They\u2019ll lose all the feeling because they want the lyrics to be crystal clear. The <\/span><span>melody already decides what it wants to say<\/span><span>; it knows what it wants to be. Sometimes you have to sacrifice the words for it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Alkhateri:<\/strong><span> Oh, it\u2019s similar to that artist you always tell me about, Salv!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Navarrete: <\/strong><span>Yeah, Max Martin did this with the Backstreet Boys. There was a version of \u2018I Want It That Way\u2019 that was grammatically<\/span><span> correct, but the final version isn\u2019t. It doesn\u2019t make sense. There was a version that existed before it, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9_TcHdT81XI\"><span>it\u2019s still online<\/span><\/a><span>, where the sentences are in correct English, but there\u2019s something wrong with it. [Max Martin] switched the words to make less sense, but they just fit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cThe <\/span><span>melody already decides what it wants to say<\/span><span>; it knows what it wants to be. Sometimes you have to sacrifice the words for it\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>But <\/strong><strong><em>Khazna<\/em><\/strong><strong> does have some meaning, right? It means \u2018hidden treasure\u2019 in Arabic?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Alkhateri: <\/strong><span>Yes, \u2018khazna\u2019 means a safe or hidden treasure. That was the meaning of this album \u2013 it has hidden meanings. There are some lyrics that I actually quoted from Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. I took inspiration from his poem \u2018A State of Siege\u2019 \u2013 it\u2019s about a mother who lost her child, and I rewrote it in terms of wanting to make it feel more hopeful, like in a healing way. I wrote it as a dialogue, two souls talking to each other, fantasising about what they want to be in the afterlife \u2013 if they want to be a stone or a tree or a raindrop that feeds the bird. It feels like a lullaby of some sort. That song is \u2018Noon\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span>Khazna <\/span><\/em>is<span> also about sexual desires and how, in my culture, we don\u2019t really talk about it with our family or our friends. It\u2019s just between me and myself, and there\u2019s always some sort of wall there. I felt that [Kiss Facility] should be a safe space to talk about anything. \u2018Kotshena\u2019 is about having a double life and identity crisis, trying to pretend that everything is fine. Yeah\u2026 it will take a long time to explain the lyrics, but each has its own story, which is why we named it <\/span><em><span>Khazna<\/span><\/em><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>This is a random one, but at the end of \u2018Qamar 14\u2019, is that your cat? Did you record a lot at home?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Navarrete:<\/strong><span> Yes, that was our friend\u2019s cat, Bug. She was doing her vocals! She\u2019s our friend&#8217;s, but she stayed with us for a year, so we technically raised her right here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>I was less expecting to see Kraftwerk on your list of references\u2026\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Navarrete:<\/strong><span> Yeah, I\u2019ve loved them since I was a kid. There\u2019s a real rawness to it that I wish I could do, but they\u2019re just using different machines than I am. I like how in the machine they felt. They\u2019re not trying to sound like humans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u2018Kotshena\u2019 was inspired by Kraftwerk. \u2018How Soon is Now?\u2019 inspired the last song on the album, \u2018baglaens\u2019 low-key inspired \u2018Absent from My Eyes\u2019 \u2013 that\u2019s an amazing song. \u2018Plasma\u2019 has elements of POiSON GiRL FRiEND. We\u2019ve shared songs that were referenced as a kind of sonic world on the project.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you have an artist that you associate with your relationship together?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Navarrete: <\/strong><span>We didn\u2019t discover her together, but I associate POiSON GiRL FRiEND with meeting Maya \u2013 definitely <em>Melting Moment<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Alkhateri: <\/strong><span>It was kind of our love song. My favourite track on our last EP was the POiSON GiRL FRiEND one. I honestly had no idea how to find her, she doesn\u2019t have much presence online. Salv wrote on Twitter, \u2018Find me POiSON GiRL FRiEND\u2019. From there, we met her in Japan and she\u2019s really amazing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Khazna\u00a0<em>is out now.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. 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class=\"scard-latest__section\">\n<div class=\"card-latest__wrapper\"><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/69940\/1\/billionhappy-is-the-king-of-the-nu-china-rap-scene-shanghai-spring-2026\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"DC291_SO2_BILLIONHAPPY_RinoQui_DarinDong_02\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-0-1072-713\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442028.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">Billionhappy is the \u2018king\u2019 of the Nu China rap scene<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/69948\/1\/what-makes-a-good-sex-song-playlist-music-bedroom-relationships-dating\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"everybody-serves-somebody-1726931770\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/0-0-658-438\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442096.jpg\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">What makes a good sex song?<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><a class=\"card-latest\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/69938\/1\/genre-soup-rap-band-whatmore-new-york-interview-laguardia\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"card-latest__img-wrapper\"><span class=\"image-container\" data-aspect-ratio-type=\"landscape\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"the boys by john krug\" src=\"https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/480\/279-0-1560-1038\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442013.png\"><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"card-latest__content\">\n<h3 class=\"card-latest__title\">Rap band WHATMORE are the sound of New York adolescence\u00a0<\/h3>\n<\/div>\n<p><\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline\" data-newsletter hidden>\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/article>\n<div class=\"article-body wrapper\">\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Something strange happened while Salvador Navarrete (AKA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/segabodega\/\">Sega Bodega<\/a>) and Mayah Alkhateri \u2013 partners both in life and in music \u2013 were making <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/kissfacility\/?hl=en\">Kiss Facility\u2019s<\/a> debut album, <\/span><em><span>Khazna<\/span><\/em><span>. Galway-born Navarrete doesn\u2019t speak a word of Arabic, but when he heard UAE-raised Alkhateri\u2019s lyrics for dreamy techno cut \u201cKotshena\u201d, he immediately began describing the exact image she was singing about. \u201cIt was honestly scary,\u201d Alkhateri tells Dazed, laughing in disbelief. Navarrete, however, found a deeper meaning in the interaction: \u201cSometimes you don\u2019t even need to be heard to be understood. That\u2019s why music is so powerful. Once it\u2019s done and you hand it over to people, they understand what you\u2019re saying \u2013 even when they don\u2019t know they understand.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It\u2019s a phenomenon that I\u2019ve experienced myself while interviewing artists from around the world, giving rise to an irrational (though not necessarily untrue) belief that when an emotion is pure, it can transcend language. And, in our interview at least, Kiss Facility certainly seemed underpinned by pure emotions. Alkhateri and Navarrete first connected when Alkhateri shared a Sega Bodega release on her Instagram story, and, after a year-long talking stage, they eventually met up for a drink in London. \u201cIt was a brief interaction but, the moment I met her, I was like, \u2018How do I [see her again]?\u2019,\u201d recalls Navarrete. \u201cI was leaving the next day to do some shows, and I just booked her on the next flight out. It was meant to be, honestly.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>It was only after they were cemented as a couple that Mayah confessed her aspirations of making music. \u201cI wanted to make music before then, but every time I met someone to make music, they wanted to take it to a sexual level, [so] I grew out of wanting it,\u201d she explains. \u201cThen, it just clicked with Salv. I told him I had heard lots of shoegaze music and always wanted to have that in the Arabic language. Then, literally the day before we released \u2018Blackstone\u2019, an Iraqi artist called Nabeel released his shoegaze song. There was definitely something in the air of Arabic artists finally entering that style.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"src-youtube video-container embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"media-youtube\" data-id=\"PB3NnRYHmgc\"><span class=\"preserve-aspect-ratio\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" allowfullscreen frameborder height=\"422\" scrolling=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/PB3NnRYHmgc\" webkitallowfullscreen width=\"750\"><\/iframe><\/span><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><span>Indeed, more widely, much has been written about the resurgence of shoegaze sonics among Gen Z listeners. Dubbing the trend \u2018zoomergaze\u2019, critics have observed a hauntological link between the fuzzy walls of sound that defined acts like Slowdive and the Cocteau Twins in the 90s, and today\u2019s post-Covid youth. Having grown up in an age defined by superficial online connections and diminishing prospects for the future, they suggest that young people are finding solace not only in shoegaze\u2019s melancholic sonics themselves, but also in returning to a time when life seemed to be less stressful \u2013 quite literally forming zoomers\u2019 rose-tinted gaze at a time gone by.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>While Navarrete was keen to distance himself from the label on Kiss Facility\u2019s debut album (\u201cThere\u2019s only like two shoegaze tracks on there \u2013 we\u2019ve just been put in that box\u201d), it does seem to mark something of a parallel future for the genre. <\/span><span>Where shoegaze\u2019s recent revival in acts like Wisp and Jane Remover finds a quicker and more hot-headed union with hyperpop, Kiss Facility draws on the decidedly (c)older references of trip-hop, techno and dream-pop (the duo\u2019s first album even included a feature from \u2018<a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/68897\/1\/a-rare-interview-with-poison-girl-friend-dream-pops-future-seer\">dream pop future seer<\/a>\u2019 POiSON GiRL FRiEND herself). Rather than evoking overpopulated online spaces, <\/span><em><span>Khazna<\/span><\/em><span>\u2019s reverb-drenched soundscapes<\/span><span>create space, casting Navarrete and Alkhateri as lovers at the end of the world, yearning for connection over a seemingly infinite distance. It\u2019s less of a comforting wall of sound than an empty warehouse, and more of a thousand-yard stare than a shoe-gaze.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Below,\u00a0<\/span><span>Alkhateri and Navarrete further unpack the themes and experiences that underpin their debut album, <\/span><em>Khazna<\/em>, including a playlist of songs that inspired the project.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html-embed\"><iframe data-testid=\"embed-iframe\" src=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/embed\/playlist\/5gDpNh3mqvbIa6yL0nj4Zq?utm_source=generator\" width=\"100%\" height=\"352\" frameborder allowfullscreen allow=\"autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; fullscreen; picture-in-picture\" loading=\"lazy\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>The playlist you shared is mostly English-language music. Would you say that\u2019s where most of your inspiration came from?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Alkhateri:<\/strong><span> Definitely<\/span><span>. I\u2019m not gonna sit here and say, \u2018Oh, we got inspiration from Arabic music\u2019. No, I got inspiration from my own vocals. There are Arabic songs I grew up with that shaped the melodies I\u2019m making, but I don\u2019t have any specific song for it, it\u2019s just in my memory. I\u2019ve always loved music from different languages \u2013 Persian music has rich writing and melody, Balkan culture has crazy songs, I also love Turkish music.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>On the vocal side, I would say Enya [was a big influence], in terms of doing vocals with gibberish lyrics and creating your own language. When I first heard her, I was like, \u2018What is she saying?\u2019 Now, I get it, because people generally don\u2019t like listening to lyrics they don\u2019t understand, but people are now increasingly aware that music is actually just about how you feel. I just want the songs to make me feel something.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>How does that connect to your process, Salv, given that you don\u2019t understand the lyrics?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Navarrete:<\/strong><span> I think that applies to when you can understand the lyrics, too. Feelings can often be lost in phonetics. A lot of times I work with singers, they\u2019ll do a take and it\u2019s got the feeling in it. Then they go, \u2018Well, I don\u2019t know, I feel like I\u2019m not saying the words right, let me do it again\u2019. They\u2019ll lose all the feeling because they want the lyrics to be crystal clear. The <\/span><span>melody already decides what it wants to say<\/span><span>; it knows what it wants to be. Sometimes you have to sacrifice the words for it.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Alkhateri:<\/strong><span> Oh, it\u2019s similar to that artist you always tell me about, Salv!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Navarrete: <\/strong><span>Yeah, Max Martin did this with the Backstreet Boys. There was a version of \u2018I Want It That Way\u2019 that was grammatically<\/span><span> correct, but the final version isn\u2019t. It doesn\u2019t make sense. There was a version that existed before it, and <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=9_TcHdT81XI\"><span>it\u2019s still online<\/span><\/a><span>, where the sentences are in correct English, but there\u2019s something wrong with it. [Max Martin] switched the words to make less sense, but they just fit.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>\u201cThe <\/span><span>melody already decides what it wants to say<\/span><span>; it knows what it wants to be. Sometimes you have to sacrifice the words for it\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"embed-content\" data-embed-type=\"raw-html\">\n<p><strong>But <\/strong><strong><em>Khazna<\/em><\/strong><strong> does have some meaning, right? It means \u2018hidden treasure\u2019 in Arabic?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Alkhateri: <\/strong><span>Yes, \u2018khazna\u2019 means a safe or hidden treasure. That was the meaning of this album \u2013 it has hidden meanings. There are some lyrics that I actually quoted from Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish. I took inspiration from his poem \u2018A State of Siege\u2019 \u2013 it\u2019s about a mother who lost her child, and I rewrote it in terms of wanting to make it feel more hopeful, like in a healing way. I wrote it as a dialogue, two souls talking to each other, fantasising about what they want to be in the afterlife \u2013 if they want to be a stone or a tree or a raindrop that feeds the bird. It feels like a lullaby of some sort. That song is \u2018Noon\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span>Khazna <\/span><\/em>is<span> also about sexual desires and how, in my culture, we don\u2019t really talk about it with our family or our friends. It\u2019s just between me and myself, and there\u2019s always some sort of wall there. I felt that [Kiss Facility] should be a safe space to talk about anything. \u2018Kotshena\u2019 is about having a double life and identity crisis, trying to pretend that everything is fine. Yeah\u2026 it will take a long time to explain the lyrics, but each has its own story, which is why we named it <\/span><em><span>Khazna<\/span><\/em><span>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>This is a random one, but at the end of \u2018Qamar 14\u2019, is that your cat? Did you record a lot at home?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Navarrete:<\/strong><span> Yes, that was our friend\u2019s cat, Bug. She was doing her vocals! She\u2019s our friend&#8217;s, but she stayed with us for a year, so we technically raised her right here.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>I was less expecting to see Kraftwerk on your list of references\u2026\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Navarrete:<\/strong><span> Yeah, I\u2019ve loved them since I was a kid. There\u2019s a real rawness to it that I wish I could do, but they\u2019re just using different machines than I am. I like how in the machine they felt. They\u2019re not trying to sound like humans.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>\u2018Kotshena\u2019 was inspired by Kraftwerk. \u2018How Soon is Now?\u2019 inspired the last song on the album, \u2018baglaens\u2019 low-key inspired \u2018Absent from My Eyes\u2019 \u2013 that\u2019s an amazing song. \u2018Plasma\u2019 has elements of POiSON GiRL FRiEND. We\u2019ve shared songs that were referenced as a kind of sonic world on the project.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Do you have an artist that you associate with your relationship together?\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>Navarrete: <\/strong><span>We didn\u2019t discover her together, but I associate POiSON GiRL FRiEND with meeting Maya \u2013 definitely <em>Melting Moment<\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><strong>Alkhateri: <\/strong><span>It was kind of our love song. My favourite track on our last EP was the POiSON GiRL FRiEND one. I honestly had no idea how to find her, she doesn\u2019t have much presence online. Salv wrote on Twitter, \u2018Find me POiSON GiRL FRiEND\u2019. From there, we met her in Japan and she\u2019s really amazing.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span>Khazna\u00a0<em>is out now.<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"newsletter-inline-last\">\n<div class=\"newsletter-small\">\n<div class=\"inner\">\n<h1 class=\"newsletter-title\">Escape the algorithm! Get The Drop<\/h1>\n<div class=\"meta-row\">\n<p class=\"meta\">Get must-see stories direct to your inbox every weekday.<\/p>\n<p class=\"paragraph\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"confirmation\" aria-live=\"polite\">\n<p class=\"confirmation-title\">Thank you. You have been subscribed<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/privacy-policy\" class=\"meta-link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\nPrivacy policy<br \/>\n<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.dazeddigital.com\/music\/article\/69966\/1\/arabic-shoegaze-duo-kiss-facility-sega-bodega-mayah-alkhateri&#8221;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/images-prod.dazeddigital.com\/1200\/307-347-1433-955\/azure\/dazed-prod\/1440\/2\/1442332.jpg&#8221;] Courtesy of Kiss Facility March\u00a0 30,\u00a0 2026 Music \/ Q+A Music \/ Q+A Arabic shoegaze duo Kiss Facility speak a language deeper than words We speak to Salvador Navarrete (AKA Sega Bodega) and Mayah Alkhateri about Palestinian poetry, the Backstreet Boys, and the songs that made up their debut album March\u00a0 30,\u00a0 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,76],"class_list":["post-1855298","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-dazeddigital-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855298","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1855298"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1855298\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1855298"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1855298"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1855298"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}