Eggshells

Released June 19, 2026 via Motvind Records, Eggshells is the solo album from Cairo oud player and composer Aly Eissa, a central figure in the city's experimental scene who has toured the world alone and as a third of the trio The Handover. Eissa was mentored by composer and multi-instrumentalist Abdo Dagher and oud master Hazem Shahin, and Eggshells carries both lineages, Egyptian classical music and folk tradition, into long, intricate original composition.

The title track, oud alone and split across both sides, fills two-thirds of the record. Two concerns run through it, time and microtonality: Eissa nudges a fingertip a hair's width along the neck and the colour of the note shifts with it. Phrases jump from the hard, percussive strokes of sagat rhythms to lines so faint they evaporate mid-air, and the fragments lock together like a mosaic of broken glass. It flows into "Sukr At-Taganni," where Eissa plays and recites the verse of the Arab poet Baha' al-din Zuhayr (1186 to 1258) in a voice that stays grave, plain and stubborn.

No band, no electronics, one instrument asked to hold the whole room. A record for the shelf that already holds Maurice Louca, Nadah El Shazly and Simsara, and the barest, most demanding one on it. Oud and voice by Eissa, mixed by Mohamed Sabry, mastered by George Zakaria, artwork by Aly Gaafar.

Original 2026 pressing on 12" vinyl, new and sealed.