So remember when I blogged about the all-girl bands Habibi and the Splinters and my posts got unceremoniously deleted? Yeah, me neither. Well, creepy Mesopotamian karma does exist because Habibi is out with their first 7” on France’s Born Bad Records, incidentally having absorbed Splinters guitarist Caroline along the way. I don’t know if that means anything to you, but for me that means not one, but two swarthy kinfolk in the band. Indo-Europeans represent!

In this day and age, when the guitar has been unanimously divined as the summit of all self-expression in music, it’s rare to see a band that fearlessly exploits a heavy bassline. While Habibi’s instrumentals have a distinctly Motown feel, their lyrics are another thing altogether, drawing heavily on the realm of Persian folklore and mysticism. Their sound has a tendency to creep up on you softly and surreptitiously, kind of like the anonymous heroine of their songs—the one who shows up but never stays too long.

And for all you lurkers, I wouldn’t be remiss to say that each member brings her particular brand of babeness to the band.

Anyway, I won’t write you a play-by-play review because bywords like “soaring vocals,” “drenched in reverb” and “surf pop” seriously give me the dry heaves. And also because, as the patron saint of pathos says, why don’t you find out for yourself. Check out Habibi’s new single “Sweetest Talk,” with B-sides “Far From Right” and “Sunsets” here. And don’t forget to linger over leading lady Rahill’s gawgeous artwork, which looks kinda like Parajanov on hallucinogens.