Following previous single ‘Yes It’s Me, The Goldfish!’ and live dates across North America and Europe, Núria Graham has announced details of her new album Cyclamen for release on January 20 and has shared new single ‘The Catalyst’. The album sees her joining forces with iconic label Verve Forecast and New Deal, the label adventure of Blake Mills, in collaboration with Primavera Labels and Universal Music, marking a big step for the Irish/Catalan artist.
‘The Catalyst’ is a short, piano-based song that talks about grief and time in a playful way. After getting to know the goldfish on the album’s first single, the new song presents the album’s second key character, the catalyst. The catalyst is the engine that defines Nuria’s subconscious world, moving through visions, dreams and stories from the past, combined with the power of nature and its revealing messages.
After working through a painful process of unresolved grief, Núria’s piano and voice on the song act like a peaceful dance and a farewell, but also as the start of something new – a way of understanding the mysteries of death, its signals and its meanings, as well as a way to find joy in its mystery.
Produced by herself and recorded at home, playing percussions on cookie boxes and various layers of piano, the song ended up developing a film-like, epic end, with instruments recorded in the studio, including harp, strings, double bass and a simple but pungent bassoon line. The songs uses only four chords and Núria’s lyrics are like a mysterious dust on top of them, with surrealist images, as if words from the subconscious were part of a collective puzzle.
It’s curious how a song that speaks about death in such a peculiar way can sound so hopeful and even have a sense of humour, as if Núria is trying to reach an impalpable truth through words that, even for her, remain a mystery and feels like a game.
The video, directed by Marc Cuscó (with art direction by Marc, Ingrid Ferrer and Núria) and tries to capture the catalyst’s unique energy, the two dancers representing the celebration or the ceremony of a farewell.
Nature plays a big part in all of the songs and visuals on Graham’s forthcoming album. Nature is the main character in Cyclamen, the messenger of all things to come.
Cyclamen:
- Procida I
- The Catalyst
- Yes It’s Me, The Goldfish!
- Poisonous Sunflower
- Birdman
- Fire Mountain Oh Sacred Ancient Fountain
- Oh I Bless Thee
- Disaster in Napoli
- The Beginnings of Things
- Gloria
- Dust Bowl Dreamin’
- The Waterway
- Procida II
