Naima Bock - Bingo Fury

"it all feels timeless in a nebulous way, songs that sound like they could be passed down for years to come."

Most of the writing of Naima Bock’s second album, Below a Massive Dark Land (out 27 September via Sub Pop), was a solitary affair. It may not sound it – it’s made up of strong, purposeful arrangements with a huge host of musicians; filled with cradling space and warm light. 

It’s true though, most of Below…’s songs started life very simply; Naima alone, living in her grandmother’s shed in South London, writing just with her voice, guitar and violin. She’s no violin virtuoso but had taken it up as a songwriting exercise for its ability to draw melodies from her – a trick that undoubtedly worked, these are songs that drift into the back of your mind and settle there like fallen leaves, songs you wake up singing. The remainder was written on the road after those moments of audience connection, in the quiet that follows.

Once that writing portion is over though, this ends. The record is not a stark, stripped back affair. Below… still has that majesty that made Giant Palm so remarkable. Tugging the first record down from the skies and spreading it across the earth; there’s a newfound vocal power and confidence born from hundreds of hours on stage and the music sounds fuller, more tangible, but no less enveloping.

This results in a record that may occasionally appear to contradict itself; communal but solitary, rooted in place but free, intimate but spacious. This, however, is what makes Below… comforting and familiar. Who doesn’t contain within them these contradictions, who doesn’t want things that are directly at odds with each other. Like the safe spaces Naima has found the world over, Below… doesn’t require all the answers, not yet, but provides a safe place to look.

BINGO FURY

Bingo Fury’s noirish, furiously inventive music – marrying Scott Walker-esque balladry, poised jazz and agitated no-wave – has marked him amongst the UK avant-garde’s most exciting young voices. The multi-instrumentalist and madcap producer’s debut album Bats Feet For A Widow arrives February 16^th via The state51 Conspiracy. 

Bats Feet For A Widow was recorded in a local church in Bristol, inspired by Fury’s tangled feelings towards his strong religious upbringing. We hear the old building everywhere, amidst the rich jazz performances of his band: Meg Jenkins (bass), Henry Terrett (drums), Harry Furniss (cornet) and Rafi Cohen (guitar, glockenspiel, piano). We also hear tossed house keys, wine glasses and strange acousmatic experiments: all channelled into a powerfully cinematic, deeply romantic album. At its heart is Fury’s crooning bass vocal, lending a vivid and slyly humorous voice to universal themes of love and pain.