Five years after her last album Nadia Reid is in a different place now, literally. She moved to the UK from her native New Zealand and became a mother. Enter Now Brightness reflects the changes in her life, bringing a fresh and lighter feel to her music.
Nadia’s best song ‘Oh Canada’ was about seeking something, somewhere different, about how escape can be transformative. This new album feels like she’s found that place she was searching for.
‘Emmanuelle’ begins the album with a declaration of love, and it was the first song she wrote after giving birth to her child. The production is airy, beautiful. On ‘Cry on Cue’ she brings in piano, creating a soft, dreamy feel. In the video for ‘Baby Bright’ a mother and daughter seek connection, and that theme of motherhood, along with a sense of searching for emotional truths, is deep in these songs.
‘Hold it Up’ uses more electronic sounds within her textures, and works well. The lyrics suggest she’s found a new understanding of people and of her own past. My favourite song on the album is the pulsating ‘Changed/Unchained’ which explores the power of melody and how pain can be transformative.
She takes it back to a more simple, acoustic arrangement on ‘Even Now’ which deals with how motherhood has changed her. ‘A Woman Apart’ starts in a similar simple musical vein, before swirling out into something more quietly euphoric, offering her best vocal performance.
The album finishes with ‘Hold it Down the Line’ a song where she thinks back on her past, and how blind she once was. She finishes with the repeated ‘here I am’ showing her newly found confidence in her identity.
Enter Now Brightness is a gorgeous album, bringing in the light after a long winter dark.
BUY: https://nadiareid.bandcamp.com/album/enter-now-brightness
Highway Queens 
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