A strange, beguiling multi-layered voice married to a simple folksy vibe.
A folkster (for want of a better word) starting to make waves in the UK Americana seas, and, through the power of virtual festivals, in the USA too, Lady Nade has dropped her third album, and we have it right here for our consideration. As is the case for many musicians, 2020 was a ‘quiet’ year for Lady Nade. However, it afforded her the time and space to create this eleven song suite in consideration of friendship, love and loneliness.
Immediately, newcomers to her work (such as this reviewer) are struck by Lady Nade’s voice. That such an aged, pleading, world-weary yet immediate sound could be brought forth from such a young artist, it really is from another time and place, undefinable. Maybe a touch of Nina Simone? Maybe nothing remotely like that. The music itself is bright and airy folksy Americana – pleasing as it rolls and burbles along. ‘Complicated’ is a beauty, itself uncomplicated in three chords and Lady Nade’s truths. ‘You’re My Number One’ brings a little country twang to the pathos.
The record picks up in pace and force during the closing tracks. ‘One Sided’ is an urgent and semi-spoken word track, hard to define, but with a certain (again) indefinable draw. ‘Rock Bottom’ is guitar (not quite power) pop, but founded on the bleakness of a helpless drunkard, counterpointed by some backwards quitar breaks. ‘Many Ways To Sink This Ship’ is again super simple in structure, like some long lost Dillard/Clark tune, but Nade’s layers of double-tracked and harmonised vocals shine against the unfussy structure, even suggesting echoes of late-period Beatles (as per the aforementioned backwards guitars).
This is a most intriguing record. Folksy Americana is taken on a journey by Lady Nade’s enchanting enticing voice.
