Here to remind us that music is not just an audible experience, Minneapolis / New York’s Nadine make melodies that transcend acoustics. Their debut album, ‘oh my’, is a collection of sophisticated modern pop songs that resonate in the gaps, the space between deadlines and timelines.
More akin to poetry set to music, Nadine are all about exploring feeling. Whilst most poets revel in the personal, Nadine’s process is collaborative whose core is singer Nadia Hulett (part of the loose collective Phantom Posse) and Julian Fader and Carlos Hernandez (both of Ava Luna). The trio’s practice is marked by their commitment to playfulness, curiosity and fluidity.
The trio started ‘oh my’ two years ago at Gravesend Recordings in Brooklyn and then, after Nadia’s relocation to Austin, they ventured out for a week to Dripping Springs, Austin and took over the home and studio of Dan Duszynski and Emily Cross (Cross Record) while they toured the US. Says Hulett of recording in Austin: “Dripping Springs has been its own magic place for me since I first visited my friends there in 2015. In letting us take over their house, we got the opportunity to explore, free of our distractions and the weight of city life. The first time I stepped foot on the property, I knew it would play an important role in my life. After finishing up the album I ended up moving into that house in 2017.”
‘oh my’ then, is an uncovering. A space that opens – suddenly – and a process that catches you. Kids biking down a suburban street in late afternoon. An ultra pink vest that infuses the wearer with a great and necessary confidence. A state of mind. Through a period of uncertainty and limbo, searching for steadier footing, walking on intuition, led by feeling. ‘oh my’ fills space with warmth and softness, each song creating its own expansive dream world awash in memories and secret keys to a puzzle so ungraspable it takes up a lifetime.
Bone coloured vinyl LP includes digital download code.