Nabihah Iqbal returns with DREAMER, her long-awaited new album out April 28 on Ninja Tune. Five years on since the London-born artist, curator, broadcaster and lecturer’s debut Weighing Of The Heart was released and two years in the making, DREAMER is Nabihah’s rawest and most reflective work to date. Alongside the announcement Nabihah shares shoegaze inspired single ‘This World Couldn’t See Us’ – the first track to be released from the album, which finds Nabihah’s voice shimmering above an infectious melodic beat.
DREAMER is “more introspective, because it’s about things that I’ve been through over the last few years,” she says. The album is an intimate journey through snapshots and memories of Nabihah’s life. Exploring personal identity and grief through the soft-focus lens of melancholy, the album is not one specific sound. Her left-field lo-fi aesthetic twirls itself throughout as she manages to skate between tracks without ever sounding disjointed. Back in the UK, she embarked on residencies in Scotland and Suffolk to finish the album where she switched off from the internet, discovering “all my emotions and feelings. I was so sad and unwell before that but hardly anybody knew.”
It is a wrenchingly intimate and sweetly playful project. There is a pronounced melancholy underpinning the album, but cracks of sunlight make their way out. Ultimately, DREAMER signals a shift, elevating Nabihah’s work to new heights as she adds new colours to her palette.
DREAMER:
- In Light
- Dreamer
- This World Couldn’t See Us
- Sunflower
- Lilac Twilight
- Gentle Heart
- Sky River
- Sweet Emotion (lost in devotion)
- A Tender Victory
- Closer Lover
