Listen Up
Soothing experimental jazz, a sunny new song, rock with an infusion of soul and more new music
N NAO: Saison des orages
Montreal-based singer-songwriter N NAO (aka Naomie de Lorimier) recently released the new album L’eau et les rêves, a dreamy, synth-inflected experimental pop record inspired by eco-feminism, the subconscious, rituals and nature. The lush opener, “Saison des orages,” is a nearly five-minute track whose shimmering and swelling acoustic strings captivate against elements that are more sparse. The song’s organic and moving soundscape perfectly sets up the album’s transcendent tone.
Georgia Anne Muldrow feat. Josef Leimberg: Nuke’s Blues
From the upcoming Sun Ra tribute album Nuclear War (set for release 26 May) comes Georgia Anne Muldrow’s “Nuke’s Blues,” featuring trumpet player Josef Leimberg. It’s just as beautifully chaotic and avant-garde as one would expect from a track created to reimagine and reinterpret music from Sun Ra’s “Nuclear War“—a song from 1982 that Ra wrote in response to the 1979 Three Mile Island accident, which was “the most serious accident in U.S. commercial nuclear power plant operating history” according to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Nuclear War EP is the first in the Red Hot & Ra series from the AIDS-focused non-profit Red Hot Organization.
Nick Waterhouse: (No) Commitment
Ahead of the release of The Fooler (out 1 April) by critically acclaimed recording artist Nick Waterhouse, the California-based singer-songwriter has unveiled the final advance single, “(No) Commitment,” a slick, soulful rock track. Produced by Mark Neill in Valdosta, Georgia, the album is Waterhouse’s sixth. Of the album, he says, “Many of the stories come from a feeling of plasticity. What is memory? What is time? What is love between two human beings like in this imaginary city?”
Georgia: It’s Euphoric
Buoyant, playful and sunny, “It’s Euphoric” by London-based artist Georgia lives up to its name. Co-written and co-produced with Rostam (aka producer, musician, singer, songwriter and composer Rostam Batmanglij), the spirited song is the first one the duo crafted for Georgia’s upcoming third studio album, the 10-track Euphoric, out 28 July on Domino. Georgia (a singer, songwriter, producer and drummer) explains that she had to relinquish control to work with Rostam, “I wanted an adventure! Being a self-produced musician, it’s easy to get stuck on one thing or in one place.” That meant surrendering “to my issues, to my past, to my flaws and to the healing process.”
Pearl & The Oysters feat. Laetitia Sadier: Read The Room
Tinged with glam, surf and psychedelic rock, the new track from Parisian duo Pearl & The Oysters (aka Joachim Polack and Juliette Pearl Davis), “Read The Room,” features Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier. Short and sweet, the 2:22-minute song (from the pair’s upcoming album Coast 2 Coast) comes accompanied by a trippy, retro-leaning animated video by Mickey Miles. It’s lyrically spare but big on layers and atmosphere.
Daniel Rotem: Wave Nature
The title track from Israel-born, LA-based saxophonist and composer Daniel Rotem’s forthcoming LP, “Wave Nature” is a melodic, jazz-adjacent soundscape with an ethereal synth infusion. The textured, expressive arrangement debuts alongside a contemplative visual creation by Charlie Weinmann. Together, the song and music video offer a delightfully unusual, soothing escape.
Ouri: Twin
Montreal-based singer, musician, DJ and producer Ouri shares “Twin,” a track that’s at first led by acoustic guitar and featherweight vocals, before including glitchy, otherworldly effects. While layered, the track is also sparse and delightfully dissonant. Gentle and unpredictable, “Twin” was partly inspired by, and samples, Vegyn & Danny L Harle’s gorgeous 2022 track “Britnaeys new baby.” Ouri says, “I was driving every day, screaming/singing in the car my new song to my love, while listening to Vegyn & Danny L Harle’s ‘Britnaeys new baby.’ To the point where I couldn’t imagine the song without the sample.”
Listen Up is published every Sunday and rounds up the new music we found throughout the week. Hear the year so far on our Spotify channel. Hero image courtesy of Ardhira Putra + Pearl & The Oysters
