Montreal’s Wake Island Releases Spellbinding New Album

Wake Island is an electronic producer duo originally from Beirut and now based between Montreal and New York. Through their music, they attempt to reconcile their Arab roots with their North American lives, infusing Middle-Eastern sounds into songs that are inspired by Detroit techno and 80-90s pop/rock. 

Composed of Philippe Manasseh and Nadim Maghzal, Wake Island’s upcoming full-length, Born To Leave (out April 30th),  explores identity from various personal and societal angles through songs in three languages (English, French and Arabic).

Born To Leave is a truly unique experience, coming from two like-minded individuals who combine a myriad of influences into some truly their own. The album never sounds forced, as those disparate sonic layers come together in an ambitious but harmonious way.

This record is an urgent and heartfelt call for action. The rapid rate of human migration from poorer countries to the more privileged nations is causing a huge social and cultural challenge – as a social species, we are often driven by an innate need to differentiate from one another, to build boundaries between the ones like us and the “others” from “other tribes”.

“With Born To Leave, we tell our immigration story from Lebanon to Canada, with all the challenges, excitement and hardships that it entails when leaving one’s home and moving to a new society. By telling our story, we hope to underline the universality of our experience, and its relatability even for people who have not immigrated. These feelings and hardships are inherent in every facet of modern society, and we believe that it is an extremely important time for stories like ours to reach as many people as possible so we can rise up to the social challenge we all face and build a better future.“ – Wake Island