Hard-rocking Hanni El Khatib plays with new sound

Hard-rocking Hanni El Khatib plays with new sound

After exhaustive touring that won him a fan base in Europe, Hanni El Khatib came home to Los Angeles, booked a month at a studio and decided simply to see where his music took him. El Khatib, whose first two albums offered a retro garage rock sound marked by guitar reverb and a confidently hip vocal delivery, was in a career position where he enjoyed artistic freedom -- a loyal audience, yet no chart-topping songs that defined him. I didn't have one of those hits where people were saying, 'We want another song like that,'" El Khatib told AFP on a recent visit to New York. "I felt like now is my opportunity -- I can push myself, and push my listeners as well." The album, "Moonlight," which comes out on Tuesday, starts with El Khatib's signature guitar jamming on the title track and the hard-rocking "Melt Me." But "Moonlight" gradually moves in new directions with the melancholic "Mexico," the funkier "Home" and the nearly six-minute closer "Two Brothers," in which El Khatib's guitar builds an atmosphere of dark disco.