Song Review: Something Here by hbiba
Of all the emotions to romanticize, disorientation ranks among the lowest. It’s a state of lingering anxiety, either emotionally unraveling or simply adrift in the chaos of everyday life. Still, like most difficult feelings, there’s a strange beauty buried inside, one that can give way to a quiet clarity that feels unexpectedly fitting. It’s a sensation that resists description, left for artists to capture in abstract impressions such as the new song “Something Here” by bedroom pop artist hbiba.
Contrasting a stumbling night’s-end retreat with an arrangement of dreamy tones and scuttling rhythm, the song unfolds from the murky space between connection and collapse. Its soft surrealism deepens the emotional pull while the immersive tones submerge you in its deluge of reverie. “Which way is home again,” hbiba asks in the song’s pseudo-chorus with a dreamy inflection, the fetching melody turning disorientation into something almost quixotic, echoing the passionate aimlessness of the Beat poets decades ago.
As drums from Taylor Haag enter the song, the scene shifts to another feeling of retreat, this one found in the comfort of one’s own home. This need to escape is not just a physical one as a repeated query offers another avenue for detachment and resignation (“When can we go to bed?\ When can we go to bed?“). In the song’s lyrical conclusion though, hbiba finds himself surrounded by a relaxed get-together that serves as a brief moment of celebration after a previous night’s restlessness (“You look back to see your friends\ With their glasses in the air“).
The lyrics twist through deictic references, blurring the point of view and leaving it unclear: is there someone else tangled in this chaos or have the uneasy feelings fractured inward, giving rise to a new internal voice trying to make sense of it all? The extended coda renders the question irrelevant as the music takes over, echoing the upward motion of a drink raised in toast, drawing the listener’s gaze skyward. In this moment, the urge to escape fades, replaced by a fleeting but radiant sense of presence. There’s something here, after all. Something to grasp before the worry returns.
hbiba, the recording alias of musician Hicham Benhallam, is well-known for his work with ambitious bands like Post Sixty Five, CARDINAL, and Majjin Boo, but it’s his solo work that offers the clearest view of his exceptional artistry. His “Three Days Of Sorrow” series provided comfort and hope within conflicted feelings that accompany the winter holidays, transforming isolation and wistfulness into rites of passage rather than sources of shame. Similarly, the “Changing Symptoms” series explores nuanced observations not tied to moments in time, but to deep-seated sensations and impulses. In these compositions, enduring feelings of longing and aspiration intertwine with fleeting moments of connection, each crafted to stretch the ephemeral present, anchoring it for just a little longer.
Each song in those series carries enough weight to stand tall on its own, a quality hbiba also demonstrated on standalone singles like “brea*fast” and “mini golf.” These songs embody the same artistic pursuit as his serialized work, chasing a sense of permanence and connection imbued with hesitant longing. With “Something Here,” hbiba pushes this further, embracing lyrical disarray while still anchoring his music in a core resonance that invites repeated listening and deepens its impact. Its music tailor-made for a life that can too often feel detached and numb, reminding us that there is still something to reach out for, whether it’s prosaic or poetic.
“Something Here” is available now on all streaming platforms, which you can listen to by clicking here. To stay up to date on future releases and updates from hbiba, make sure to follow him on Instagram.
