Track listing: Limerence
There's something appropriately obsessive about the title of Serag Baddar's “Limerence.” The term describes an intense, involuntary infatuation—a fixation on another person that can involve persistent thoughts, longing, and an almost compulsive desire for reciprocation. The artwork for the song reinforces that idea with a simple message reading “Please talk to me,” followed by the particularly brutal “Seen 3 weeks ago.” It's a simple yet powerful graphic, capturing the emotional territory of waiting, repeating, hoping, and circling back to something that may never be returned.
But there's considerably more history behind this song than its title might suggest.
Baddar says the main riff of “Limerence” was the first riff he ever wrote as a teenager. The instrumental that eventually became the song had originally been called “Lotus,” and he carried it with him for more than 15 years, allowing it to evolve through various iterations. At one point the song spent several years in Drop B tuning before Baddar eventually returned it to D tuning and completed it as “Limerence.”
The title itself came much later. Baddar says he experienced limerence in real life, and in 2026 gave this long-evolving instrumental its current name. He describes the finished song as being, quite literally, a message to a specific woman.
Musically, “Limerence” has a similarly persistent quality. The rhythm guitar lays down a quickly picked, low-end progression of 16th notes, punctuated by syncopated accents, while the bass largely complements the guitar and leaves it to carry the primary rhythmic responsibility. Occasional lead-guitar stabs and strums add shape to the droning foundation, while the drums move between halftime and double-time feel, occasionally stripping down to a sparse, four-driven approach.
The layered guitars are particularly interesting, especially when contrasting the sensation of voices singing in rounds as they bounce ideas around one another without relying on elaborate effects or studio trickery.
The result has an almost hypnotic quality—but interestingly, Baddar says that wasn't actually intentional. The effect comes from the delay and the kinds of riffs he was playing. In other words, the obsessive quality I hear in the music wasn't necessarily something he set out to create; it emerged naturally from the musical construction itself.
That approach fits nicely with Baddar's evolution from a groove-heavy, metal-driven project toward the post-rock sensibilities he describes in his bio. His influences are clear: Opeth and Tool are major touchstones, although Baddar says what he takes most from those bands is their exceptionally high standard for quality. He also credits Opeth's mixture of heavy and clean passages with helping push him toward an increasing interest in cleaner sounds.
There's a particularly compelling moment toward the end of “Limerence” where Baddar pulls apart the song's central hook and shows the listener how it works.
First comes the main guitar riff. Then it stops, leaving the bass to take over. The second guitar riff enters alongside it, and finally all of the parts are brought together.
It's a terrific demonstration because each component works independently, but hearing them assembled makes it clear why the complete hook works so well.
And Baddar is adamant about the song's construction. Asked what he would change or expand before calling it finished, his answer is essentially: nothing.
He considers the song's structure original, loves the hook, and believes the demonstration outro belongs exactly where it is.
The area he does intend to improve is the vocal. The demo features Baddar himself singing, but he doesn't consider the performance finished. Rather than bring in another vocalist, he intends to sing it himself again after spending several years developing his voice.
That's fitting for a song that has already spent more than 15 years developing.
As a demo, “Limerence” is clearly still a work in progress in terms of production and vocal performance. Baddar admits that he's not a producer and that his approach to the mix was essentially working with the volume levels to make the instruments and vocals as clear as possible. But the musical foundation is already compelling, and the combination of its repeating guitar figures, rhythmic interplay, layered construction, and memorable hook gives the track a distinctive personality.
Perhaps most importantly, the emotional story behind the song isn't something Baddar retroactively invented to explain the music. The instrumental existed long before the title “Limerence” arrived. The meaning came later.
That's actually consistent with Baddar's broader songwriting philosophy. He says he usually starts with guitar and riffs, allowing the meaning to emerge only after the musical foundation is solid.
In the case of “Limerence,” that foundation had been waiting for him for more than a decade.
Now it has a name.
And a message.
And, if Baddar gets his way, a whole lot more life ahead of it.