The Friday Dispatch
Nadia Reid, Naya Yeira, Underworld, Amor Vincit Omnia and more
Nadia Reid is getting her house in order
Approaching the release of her fourth album, Kiwi artist Nadia Reid is eager to abandon the “tortured artist” cliché. Functioning as a red line of sorts, separating the hard emotions she used to fall back on from the softer ones that her new perspective affords — forgiveness, chiefly — Enter Now Brightness achieves her ambition to “find a place for joy” in the folk singer’s songs. In the five years since her last record, pandemic-stymied Out of My Province, the New Zealander has become a mum twice over, sold almost everything she owned, and moved across the world, arriving in Manchester with just two suitcases and a car seat. In the process, Reid looked to turn away from some of her old habits, making room for new light and new life. The smouldering conviction and self-possession of her first few albums is still accountably present, of course, but there’s a new and stirring sense of ease that sails through Reid’s new persona and the ten tracks of Enter Now Brightness.
It's fair to say that motherhood has been a large part of this softening, sometimes turning her “into complete mush.” But Enter Now Brightness is not a “motherhood album” per se. If anything, it’s more about finding one’s place in the lineage of mothers that echoes through time. It’s a series of negotiations, in a way, between two sides of all kinds of relationships, often with a single aim in common: to strive for new levels of empathy and mutual understanding. “Now I can be kind to anyone,” sings Reid on one highlight; “I’m grateful for the grace that is mine,” she sings on another. “Isn’t it easier? For you to watch the eye of the storm.”
Reid likens this shift in perspective to the kind of spiritual housekeeping that some women experience while pregnant, an emotional sweeping out of unresolved relationships and other fruitless baggage. It’s something she first read about in Alicia Keys’ memoir More Myself (“I couldn’t put it down!”) and stuck with her throughout her first pregnancy. “I think I got myself into quite a good position, emotionally, before my oldest daughter arrived,” she says. “There was nothing particularly magical that I did, but I remember things just became a little bit clearer.”
“I grew up with the notion that having children is really hard, and that it ruins your career,” she says. Part of that idea, she explains, came from her own strained childhood relationships. “Then, when the baby came, people would say things like ‘Enjoy your sleep while you can’ and ‘Get ready to want to kill your husband’ – it felt like the suffering Olympics, and I had to undo all of that thinking.”
But though it’s early days, Reid feels like so far, all is well. The hardship of the past doesn’t feel so hard anymore. And it shows, both on her latest record and in her life. “I don’t have a lot of childhood memories of the kind that we are making with the kids now,” she says. “We have a very gentle household. There’s a lot of silliness, a lot of joy, and it’s beautiful to see."
Today’s headline record is Lorde’s fourth LP, Virgin. Kevin Abstract has also teed up a major drop with Blush. Frankie Cosmos releases Different Talking; grunge outfit Smut have put out Tomorrow Comes Crashing; rising indie songwriter Susannah Joffe drops her latest EP, Cult Leader; alternative icons Blonde Redhead return with the superb The Shadow of the Guest; and late night drive home debut their first proper LP, as i watch my life online. Oh, also, Frank Ocean released a channel ORANGE vinyl on his website (and is opening a new HOMER store in London).
The introduction…
24-year-old London-based R&B upstart Naya Yeira stops by to tell us about herself.
Hometown… Jakarta, Indonesia.
Describe your sound in 5–10 words… Ethereal, hard bass, alt-rnb/pop with cinematic emotional undercurrents.
Most-used app(s)… TikTok and Instagram.
Your favourite songwriting practice… Pulling out my voice note or notes app and writing down lyrics or vocal ideas.
Best place for a night out in London… A friend’s house or a live jazz bar!
Naya Yeira’s latest single, “Wicked Games”, is out now.
Something Old, Something New
Every week, we share recommendations from the Best Fit community — one from the past, another from the present. This week, writer Dom Lepore compares the magic of Arthur Russell’s Calling Out of Context (2004) and Underworld’s Strawberry Hotel (2024).
Arthur Russell’s primordial songcraft remains unbelievably ahead of its time. His artistry encompasses ‘80s art pop, folk rock, and mutant disco. Tragically, these accomplishments were only cemented years after his passing from AIDS-related illnesses in 1992. For years, Russell only bolstered one enigmatic album to his name: 1986’s World of Echo, a collection of esoteric sonic experimentation. However, his estate at Audika Records meticulously collated his plethora of unmarked tapes comprising hundreds of demos to keep his spirit alive for today’s generations.
Born of these conservation efforts was 2004’s Calling Out of Context, a faithful amalgamation of Russell’s accessible, pop side. Where his signature cello would normally be brooding, here it’s playful like a jovial rabbit. “The Deer in the Forest Part 1” invokes a pastoral tone, curtailed by the electric, post-punky “The Platform on the Ocean.” “You and Me Both” shows hints of smooth soul, while the title track’s frantic percussion gives Talking Heads’ Remain in Light’s A-side a run for its money. The life-affirming “That’s Us/Wild Combination” is a warm, romantic disco ballad, his words almost reminiscing on a treasured photograph. What’s most astonishing is these brilliant songs aren’t truly finished — they’ve been posthumously pieced together, much like his history. It’s a blessing we can tend to it ourselves.
Borrowing from Russell’s spirit in the (more) current era is Underworld. The electronic duo of Karl Hyde and Rick Smith have worked together for over forty years, combining hard-hitting techno with stream-of-consciousness poeticism. From 1994’s urban, cinematic dubnobasswithmyheadman to 2024’s big bouquet Strawberry Hotel, the duo remains prolific.
A band as scrupulous as Russell — just dig up their exhaustive reworkings of album tracks on their deluxe editions — they loosened up on Strawberry Hotel. Its sprawling 15-song tracklist is a technical record for the group, though most of the songs clock in under five minutes. Hyde’s one-take vocals, oddly intoned off-key, are normally plastered above Smith’s music but, on this record, are instead buried within it. This new spontaneity both embodies the duo’s need to reinvent and channels all facets of Underworld.
The art pop hymn “Black Poppies” is an uncharacteristically joyful opener but an inviting ode to dancing. Following is “denver luna,” Underworld’s most visceral techno tune in years, that’s as ferocious as their hit “Born Slippy .NUXX.” The album’s second half veers into more sombre territory. “Ottavia” features Smith’s daughter reciting an English translation of L’incoronazione di Poppea by Monteverdi, converging opera’s theatrics with techno and progressive house. Elsewhere, the Kraftwerkian, spaced-out “Gene Pool” builds up to titanic synths engulfing the listener with divine comfort.
Listen to the week in new music by following our Discovery playlist
Dropping at midnight every Thursday, follow our playlist for a taste of the best new tracks we have on repeat. Leading the selection this week are cuts from crushed, dóttir.x, Car Crash Bird Funeral, Folk Bitch Trio, For Nina, and coverstars Amor Vincit Omnia.
“I’m not a great believer in the coffee-table approach to magazines. I’m a journalist. I don’t think a magazine’s like a book, it should be a mirror of life.”