Nardean
When I first heard this thing it hit me harder than the Taronga zoo branded slap bands that my daughter keeps inexplicably losing, forcing me to purchase yet more slapbands. Harder than slapbands and harder even than the recurring cost of slapband repurchase. These are zoo gift shop slapbands too, objectively the best and most expensive slapbands. Harder than that.
Not because the beat was particularly chunky, though immaculately produced by Sydney hip-hop monster (and Godriguez collaborator) Stackhat and not because that voice is weighty and beautiful both. It hit me because right from the outset, this damn song kept reminding me of my own mortality. I mean the thing opens with a ticking clock, interposed into the production throughout the track so that you might never forget your impending doom. It’s all part of the semi-nihilist tides moving beneath the song, declaring that we’re all just matter. But there’s an optimism too, signalled halfway through the song with Nardean’s laughter and the ‘that’s a good thing’ tempo change. That’s the point at which Nardean starts to paint scenes of mortal beauty, things that are lovely even if fleeting. And please do not sir even begin me about the bit where she flows upward in pitch like a reverse vocal waterfall (low gradient obvs).
It’s wonderful structure and songwriting and lyricism and vocals and production and I just don’t know if I’ve heard another Australian song of the same finished quality in 2k18. There have been some wonderful and unique artists thus far but this is a holistic monster, the real deal, every box ticked. You could submit this for a US visa and they wouldn’t even request further justification, you’d be sorted.
Don’t ask me who she is or where she’s come from, you can scope Nardean’s socials for that side o things. I’ll tell you though, her future is where I’ve cast my eyes. There’s a full LP in the works (completed even?) made possible through an Australia Council grant and I’m quietly optimistic of more as good as this.
Artists you need to know rn
| 1. 1300 |  |
316 |
| 2. Voidhood | |
259 | 3. jamesjamesjames | |
186 | 4. Zan | |
174 |
| 5. Sesame Girl | |
147 |
Sounds effortless, fun, & crisp. Good find.