FEATURE:
The Pride of Tyne and Wear
Celebrating the Stage Return of the Incomparable Queen Nadine Shah
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MAYBE the tickets…
will be sold out by the time this goes live but, if there are some left and you are near Brighton or Glasgow, you can see the divine Nadine Shah perform later this month. She is at Chalk, Brighton on 19th; King Tut’s, Glasgow on 29th. It is a chance to see one of our greatest artists back on stage after a bit of a time away. The Whitburn-born (Sunderland) artist is one of my absolute favourites. Her latest studio album, Kitchen Sink, came out in 2020. New music, Shah has posted, is coming along soon. I wanted to celebrate that fact. I will come to Kitchen Sink and a bit of publicity around that. I will also mention her 2022 debut acting turn in A Midsummer Night's Dream, where she won critical applause. It is fascinating seeing artists like Shah, Rebecca Lucy Taylor (Self Esteem), and even Cheryl (Cole) stepping into acting and getting this curiosity and acclaim. I don’t need much of an excuse to spotlight and spend time with Nadine Shah’s music. As she is an actress and is coming back to the musical stage, it is an exciting and different time! I am going to finish with a look at each of Shah’s four albums and reviews for them all. I am starting out with this interview that she gave late last year to promote her turn in A Midsummer Night's Dream:
“Imagine you’ve never acted before, but you’re on your way to rehearsals for a new production of a Shakespeare classic where you’ll be playing a central role.
Anyone else’s heart rate just gone up a notch?
Add to that the knowledge that the ‘riotous’ incarnation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream – where you’ll be playing Fairy Queen, Titania opposite the voice of Bafta Award-winning David Morrissey by the way – will be the first play to hit the stage at a spanking new Shakespeare-devoted venue, and I think anyone would forgiven for doing some kind of runner before they’d had time to hang up their coat.
Thankfully, Nadine Shah required no such forgiveness, having embraced the above opportunity with a big dollop of gusto.
Despite professing to be ‘absolutely knackered’ thanks to the demanding performance schedule she’s currently keeping, the joy she’s getting from the experience shines through as she Zooms in for a chat from her Liverpool digs.
“There’s something really special about the theatre. I love being a part of it, and I have a newfound respect for theatre actors, they work damn hard,” laughs the 36-year-old who hails from South Tyneside.
“The reason I love my job as a musician is that I love working really hard on something creative and delivering it to an audience to bring them joy. At its bare bones, that’s what my work is about. And that’s exactly what this play does,” she adds.
But back to the decision to take the role in the first place.
“I’d had a lot of time off work because I was very unwell. I don’t want to say too much about it, but I needed to take a few months off to mend,” she says.
IN THIS PHOTO: Nadine Shah in rehearsals for A Midsummer Night’s Dream
During this period of recovery, Nadine was contacted by director Matthew Dunster who was working with Jimmy Fairhurst, artistic director of ‘gig’ theatre company, Not Too Tame on a new production of Shakespeare’s dreamy comedy.
The play – a co-production with Northern Stage in Newcastle – would be the opening attraction for the Shakespeare North Playhouse (a new venue in Prescott, Merseyside) before coming for a two-week run on Tyneside.
“It was never something I was looking for – I’ve never acted in my life aside from possibly a couple of minor roles in school plays and had zero ambitions to do so,” says Nadine.
“But it transpired that Matthew – with his impeccable taste in music – had been a fan of mine for a long time and thought that I would be a good fit for Titania.”
Nadine says she couldn’t have considered taking the role before taking her much-needed time away… but the invitation came at exactly the right time.
IN THIS PHOTO: David Nellist as Theseus with Shah’s Titania/PHOTO CREDIT: Patch Dolan
“I wanted to challenge myself and this was something completely out of my comfort zone. I loved the idea of the structure of theatre and getting back into something that I had to work really hard on.”
Known for mining her own life experiences for her music, the chance to inhabit another character also appealed.
“As much as I might deny it, all my songs are about me and my life. It can be quite tiring and sometimes overwhelming exhibiting my personal life on stage night after night. That’s possibly why I got so poorly,” she says.
“There’s something really joyous about playing somebody else for a change… and have the permission to play.
“I was always very concerned with looking cool and never wanting to make myself look silly or daft. Theatre allows you to play – to be daft, to be silly, to explore all these different things within yourself. There’s a great freedom which comes with that and I love it.”
Billed as a ‘full tilt, full on night out’ the production, which opens at Northern Stage on Saturday (Oct 27) has had a lovely reception from reviewers and critics alike.
“Not Too Tame are my kind of theatre company,” says Nadine.
PHOTO CREDIT: Patch Dolan
“They don’t want the theatre to be intimidating and their focus is for people to enjoy themselves and have a great night out.
“But there’s no dumbing down of Shakespeare whatsoever. It’s a beautifully chaotic production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which has daft and silly and dark and harrowing… and so much beauty.”
And don’t forget the music. It would have been downright silly to have Nadine Shah in the cast and not ask her to sing something.
She laughs.
“There’s loads of me singing in it. Sometimes I’ll be leaving the theatre and an audience member will stop me and say ‘you have got an amazing voice’ and I just want to go, ‘yeah, I know, but what about my acting?’”.
Prior to coming to a review for Kitchen Sink, I wanted to drop in one of the many interviews around its release. I would advise people to look at some of the others. In a great questions-and-answers chat with Jude Rogers for Observer New Review, we get some great insights into the album – in addition to an order/shipment issue that could have destroyed Nadine Shah’s wrists!
“Nadine Shah, 34, was born in South Tyneside to a British-Norwegian mother and British-Pakistani father. Since her 2013 debut, Love Your Dum and Mad, her albums have explored mental health, Islamophobia, the refugee crisis and feminism through post-punk, gothic pop, and her blackly comic personality. Holiday Destination (2018) was nominated for the Mercury prize, and her fourth album, Kitchen Sink, is out 26 June.
What’s it like releasing an album in the time of Covid-19?
It’s strange, and I’m sad, obviously, as I was really looking forward to playing live to support it. I had a great slot at Glastonbury, this massive dream, on a great stage at a great time, and the idea of all those people who could have come to see me, or chanced upon me, not happening… I don’t want to think about, really. But being stuck at home means I’ve got social media at my fingertips, and I’ve been seeing who’s reacting to my songs. Lots of people have been tweeting about my singles. That’s been great.
PHOTO CREDIT: Katherine Anne Rose/The Observer
How are you finding lockdown?
I’m glad I’m in Ramsgate by the sea, where I live with my boyfriend, but I miss my band. We’ve all been on WhatsApp giving each other advice about emergency grants and musicians’ funds. I’m also sick of celebrities tweeting at us from their huge gardens reminding us to breathe, going [dreamy American accent] “this is the time to learn Italian, to do your sabbatical”. For most people, managing to maintain relationships and friendships and not bursting into tears all the time is enough, love.
You tweeted recently that you got 20,000 copies of Kitchen Sink sent to your flat to sign for your fans, instead of 200. What happened?
It was hilarious, not that my boyfriend thought so at 6.30am when there was a lorry driver at our door. I was pretending to be asleep [laughs]. There were actually only 8,000 when I counted them, but looking at all those records was interesting, thinking: “I’ve made this, I’m really proud of it, but how much money that people pay for it will actually come back to me?” Hardly anything. It made me want to sell them off the balcony! They’ve gone back to Germany now, though. We can get into our living room again.
Kitchen Sink’s cover art is of 70s party food, shot in Technicolor. What was its inspiration?
Abigail’s Party. I loved the idea of the bored housewife, all manic and vibrant, stuck at home while her husband was at work, going mad on the Blue Nun, feeding her frustrations into this outpouring of creativity. Women still feel those feelings. There’s this idea that the sexual revolution and 70s feminism changed everything for women, but it didn’t, especially in places outside trendy London. Oh, I must mention the 70s dinner party Twitter feed that influenced me too. It’s full of food in the shape of other food. Look! A salmon quiche in the shape of a pineapple!
The new album has lots of lyrics about being a woman, and getting older. Why make a pop album about that?
Because it’s something women have to think about all the time, but you never hear songs about it. You say your age to some people, and they’re already raising their eyebrows, going “tick-tock”. Don’t you think that’s already on my mind? Don’t you realise some people might not want kids? Or can’t? Or might have tried? Or might have lost babies already? I did a lot of research for this album last year, which was basically talking to female friends in pubs. It’s amazing how much shit we all put up with.
There are also songs about gaslighting, catcalling, and women being infantilised by men. The female protagonists often take back power. Was that important to you?
Yes. I really wanted to take back power in a celebratory way, and I wanted its sound to be joyous too, not dour or mournful, and good to dance to. I worried early on about alienating men with some of the songs, to be honest, then I realised all the men I knew were brilliant, and never would. If anyone takes offence to anything on Kitchen Sink, they’re the one with the problem, not me.
You’ve been tweeting a lot in recent weeks in support of the Black Lives Matter protests. What is like for you, living in this moment?
It’s made me think of the Asian community I grew up in, and some of the things people I knew said about black people, and the hierarchy of racism that exists. I’ve had some brilliant conversations with my father, who’s starting to realise the real weight of some of things he might have casually said about the black community. When I’ve spent the last week watching people I usually agree with calling others scumbags on Twitter – which is hypocritical, and perpetuates the hatred – these conversations [like the ones she had with her father] give me hope. They’re long overdue. I hope they don’t stop.
You presented the Q awards in 2019 to much fanfare, and you’ve also been doing a series of Instagram live interviews, Payback, in which you interview music critics. Was this purely out of devilment?
Yes! Not really. I’ve just always found it weird to be asked a lot of questions in an interview, and not be expected to ask any back. Quite often, I’ve had a drink with a journalist afterwards, and I’ve been so nosy: “Ooh, who’s the worst person you’ve interviewed, then?” That’s always great to hear. This isn’t going to be a new direction for me, though, unless something happens organically, or I get really skint. Actually, I probably will be after all this, so call me up, BBC Breakfast!”
I think that Kitchen Sink was the best album of 2020. I think it should have been shortlisted for the Mercury Prize! Regardless, the fourth studio album from Nadine Shah may be her very best. The reviews for Kitchen Sink were all hugely positive. It was massively acclaimed. This is what The Line of Best Fit noted about the sublime, powerful and hugely interesting Kitchen Sink:
“Intensity is the word that comes to mind when I think about Nadine Shah.
Intensity of purpose, of sound, of vision…everything about Nadine Shah screams intensity. Her humour is coal-black and morbid, her music is challenging and muscular, and her unique perspective on the human condition is incomparable. Nadine Shah is intensity, personified.
Her favourite artist of all time? Scott Walker. Her favourite Talking Heads album? Naked. The artists she’s frequently compared to? Nick Cave, PJ Harvey and other neo-noir hardboiled Goth-ites. These aren’t things one should take lightly, and although they’re clear indicators, these factoids can’t really prepare you for the onslaught Shah delivers on Kitchen Sink.
PHOTO CREDIT: Fraser Taylor
That Talking Heads album – frequently overlooked because of just how draining it is – informs the opening salvo, “Club Cougar”, with its blaring brass and thunderous rhythms. It’s the first sign that you need to strap yourself in, and Shah just increases the pressure relentlessly throughout this excellent record: the guitars throughout the album are aggressive and sharp-edged, the bass is consistently robust and roaring, and rhythms are serpentine and oppressive - barely a moment goes by that you aren’t feeling Shah’s own claustrophobia, the weight of her own aging bearing down on your shoulders. The haunting, open-sky, Wild West terror of “Kite” is one such track that just oozes existential doom, from its ringing synths to its dizzying guitar – it’s like Alejandro Jodorowsky’s El Topo, reimagined by Cormac McCarthy and brought to life by a Geordie goth. The demons you meet there on the prairie are real.
“Buckfast” is a loose Berlin blues, with dead eyes, open mouth and a lurching gait – this is “Sister Midnight” as written by Sylvia Plath or Shirley Jackson. 1977 Iggy informs the swinging rhythm of “Trad”, but this time the slack-jawed, sweat-slicked Lust for Life speed demon. Elsewhere, the chiming indie rock of “Ukrainian Wine” carries hints of the Velvet Underground, and the steamy, rubbery grooves of “Dillydally” instantly evoke Can, and David Byrne and Brian Eno’s My Life in the Bush of Ghosts. All of these complementary flavours combine to a truly satisfying whole: this is Shah’s fourth, and best, album.
Earlier I said that intensity is the thing that comes to mind when you think about Nadine Shah, and in all seriousness, it’s probably just because she seems to feel things so intensely. Aging, and motherhood, and society, and femininity – all weaponised and handled with aggression and raw power. Shah isn’t angry, nor is she raging against anything in particular, but her clear-eyed sense of perception just skewers humanity, with all of our strengths, all of our flaws. Nadine Shah is an equal-opportunity misanthrope, and she’s coming for you, whether you like it or not”.
I am going to round off with a look at Nadine Shah’s stunning four studio albums. I wanted to wish her luck for her upcoming gigs! It is not an exaggeration to say that she is one of our most treasured and astonishing artists. A vital voice and incredible human. It is amazing that new music will come soon. Maybe a fifth studio album will be on the way in 2024. I also hope that Shah gets time to revive her interview series, Payback. It will be fascinating to see how her acting career develops and progresses after her triumphant stage debut! She is one of the country’s greatest artists. That excellent news yesterday (12th October) that that there are gigs and new music has been met with love and a sense of real relief and happiness. If you are new to Nadine Shah and wonder whether you should invest in her music (an absolute yes!), below are details about her four albums. It goes to show how she has developed as an artist over the past decade. Someone that holds so much respect in the music industry, the marvelous Ms. Shah is definitely…
A national treasure.
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Love Your Dum and Mad
Release Date: 22nd July, 2013
Producer: Ben Hillier
Label: Apollo Records
Buy: https://nadineshah.bandcamp.com/album/love-your-dum-and-mad
Standout Tracks: To Be a Young Man/Runaway/Floating
Review:
“Nadine Shah has already dealt two mortal wounds with her Aching Bones and Dreary Town EPs, but that’s not enough for the Whitburn (a quaint coastal village in Tyne & Wear for non-northerners) singer-songwriter. Her killing blow will be Love Your Dum and Mad, her full-length debut. Already various corners of the internet are palpably fizzing with anticipation, waiting for what’s sure to be a revolutionary, incendiary debut.
Shah’s Norwegian mother, the daughter of a sea captain, was swept off her feet by a gentleman from Pakistan. Shah grew up gazing upon the stony outcrops submerged in the North Sea from her precarious cliff-top home, and her father would sing Urdu ghazals and Sufi hymns, filling the house with music. It’s a mysterious, fantastical start to her story that could be penned by some golden-age of silver-screen romance peddler. It’s a colourful tale of origin, but it sort of explains her sound – as do her arm-length list of influences. She’s inspired by frequent comparison Nick Cave (she told us back in November that she’s not at all bothered by the oft-mentioned similarities), Frida Kahlo, PJ Harvey, Black Flag and Philip Larkin, to name a few.
Produced by Ben Hillier (Depeche Mode, The Horrors), Shah’s long-awaited debut is finally upon us. ‘Dreary Town’, from the EP of the same name, makes an appearance. Cyclic, waltzing piano forges with desolate guitar plucks, the two nervously harmonising underneath Shah’s tempestuous torrent of emotion. It’s like the soundtrack to a deranged fairground, executed by a sombre organ-grinder and a sulking monkey. There’s a Zola Jesus-y twang, minus the electronics, in that it’s operatic, haunting and performed with gusto. Also appearing is ‘Aching Bones’, again from the EP of the same name. The cut’s a post-industrial paean, throbbing bass and clanking metal provide a vital rhythm that provides a spine for Shah’s possessed wail. She sings like a woman on the brink of giving up, allowing herself to succumb to agony – it’s a visceral glimpse into her brooding world.
The other efforts on the record are just as stellar as what we’ve already heard. ‘The Devil’ creaks with macabre guitar hooks, warped beyond rescue. It’s a shadowy tango, seemingly flecked with Iberian influences and the passionate, forceful rhythm. Her voice, trembling as if performing at a Baudelairian cabaret, is the tangible river through what is otherwise a largely electronic cut. ‘To Be A Young Man’ is washed with a post-punk brush, bringing those Nick Cave references to the forefront via Gothic, hopeless lyrics: “Now we’re stalking nine to fives in monotonous routine/ and any hope we had seems distant and obscene.” It’s vaguely grunge-y; distortion-laded guitars and nerve-wracked acoustic six-stringers writhe in harmonious terror, and Shah’s shellshocked croon feels weighed down by ash and dust in her throat.
Nadine Shah’s first foray into the world of LPs is an aural siege. Her unrelenting bouts of emotion don’t leave much space for breathing, and quite frequently you’ll be sucked into a vortex of spiralling despair; in a way, her sounds are claustrophobic. What originally appears to be quite simple, basic instrumentation (voice, piano, occasional guitar or synth), soon reveals itself to be something quite different. There are thick textures and engorged melodies that swell and bloat until they begin to choke you; but Shah doesn’t let up the assault. Her smoky, emotional noxious smog struggles to clear. She’ll hold you under the water with her voice until the last bubble bursts. And you won’t even try to stop her.
It’s utterly magnetic. There are few albums that will make you experience so many emotions concurrently, and even fewer that will still give you chills hours later. Even though it may be tough to swallow some of the brutish feeling, it’s an exceptional record” – The Line of Best Fit
Key Cut: Dreary Town
Fast Food
Release Date: 6th April, 2015
Producer: Ben Hillier
Label: Apollo Records
Buy: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Fast-Food-Nadine-Shah/dp/B00SHTH1P8
Standout Tracks: Fast Food/Matador/Stealing Cars
Review:
“Nadine Shah’s problem is not really a problem yet. At the moment, the fact that she imparts her songs with such stark believability doesn’t matter, as it’s easy enough to believe that her subject matter comes from first hand experience.
But if she does take her songwriting into realms away from biographical adventure, she’s going to run into the PJ Harvey effect, when people come up in and remark how well she looks for being a supercentenarian veteran of the Galliopli campaign.
For the moment though, her second album keeps things grounded. What doesn’t take long is for ‘Fast Food’ to remind you how good a voice Shah has: the kind of soulful, howling instrument that should you be sat on a rotating seat with a button in front and the wreckage of your career behind, you’d say helps to makes songs her own.
Not that Shah needs much help owning these tracks. Much like the debut, there’s an intensely personal slant to this album. Unlike the debut, there are a few more patches of light in and amongst the storm clouds.
‘Divided’ is subtle and folky, all acoustic strums and plaintive yearning. ‘Matador’ is hushed and restrained while still brooding dramatically. Even ‘Stealing Cars’, with Nick Webb’s clanging guitar battering away like an irate blacksmith on a short deadline has a certain romantic tenderness to it.
Although, this far from being a loved up, picnics and slow walks in the park record. Shah can still do spiteful with the best of them - ‘Fool’ in particular is a brilliantly scathing pinpoint character assassination.
So it’s sweet, it’s sour, it’s angry, it’s reflective, ‘Fast Food’ is pretty successful in capturing the ups and downs of complicated relationships. The fact it manages that in a way which is neither hackneyed or predictable is near miraculous” – DIY
Key Cut: Fool
Holiday Destination
Release Date: 25th August, 2017
Producer: Ben Hillier
Label: 1965
Buy: https://www.roughtrade.com/en-gb/product/nadine-shah/holiday-destination
Standout Tracks: Out the Way/Evil/Ordinary
Review:
“Holiday Destination is Nadine Shah's third record, and it's the one that sees her emerge from the ubiquitous PJ Harvey and Nick Cave comparisons most fully. Certainly, as far as Harvey and Shah's music is compared, there are certain aesthetic and thematic crossovers, but the latter's political concerns feel acutely direct and personal compared to the more conceptual nature of Harvey's later work. With this latest record she tackles big and troubling issues apparent both in her native U.K. and around the world, yet those heavy themes are consistently met with a playful, limber, and imaginative musicality. Opener "A Place Like This" pairs funk rhythms with pro-refugee protest chants, and "2016" speaks of "Fascists in the Whitehouse" among nimble guitar riffs and a crisp, disjointed beat. The bracing lead single "Out the Way" is a frank cautionary tale about the rise of nationalism and the treatment of second generation immigrants -- "Where would you have me go?/I'm second generation/Don't you know?" -- and its jittery, marching rhythm, vibrating guitar, and lunging sax feed into the urgency and importance of the narrative. The title track was inspired by news footage of holiday makers in Greece complaining of the refugee crisis' effect on their break, and still its danceability doesn't detract from the troubling lyrical content, which warns, "Fatalities in the water/traffic jam by your side/feed your son, feed your daughter/how you gonna sleep tonight?/the bad guys they are winning." Unlike her previous records, which were recorded live, Shah has described Holiday Destination as a studio album. However, there is little to fear in terms of this record being too polished, as it's lost none of the character of her previous efforts. "Yes Men" is an example of light production touches serving the songs beautifully as Shah's vocal is repositioned to the fore. The pace is slowed, but not at the expense of impact -- her voice admonishes sycophants who peddle lies in service to their own agenda with a rich sensory power. It's an album filled with wonderful moments from the delicious grooves of "Evil" to "Mother Fighter's" entrancing hooks, and they only ever serve to deepen Shah's message. To have made this collection as musically grim as the problems she addresses could have left a sense of hopelessness ringing in the air. But this lively and spirited musical landscape celebrates music's ability to unite as much as it eloquently protests division” – AllMusic
Key Cut: Holiday Destination
Kitchen Sink
Release Date: 26th June, 2020
Producer: Ben Hillier
Label: Infectious
Standout Tracks: Club Cougar/Ladies for Babies (Goats for Love)/Prayer Mat
Review:
“Nadine Shah’s last album, the Mercury-nominated ‘Holiday Destination’, was a searing response to the political turmoil caused by Brexit and Trump. This was a topic that Shah was perfectly suited to tackling, being an intelligent, outspoken and feminist songwriter, but it did often mean that her songs – while brilliant – were dark and brooding. Her new album, ‘Kitchen Sink’, is once again political, but is about women’s place in the world, the infinite different lives they lead, and the difficulties of being a strong female. While it goes to some dark places, Shah is able to have a lot more fun as she embodies all these different female experiences.
This is obvious right from the jump, as ‘Club Cougar’ places her out on the town, being chatted up by a young man whom she laughs off: “Your conversation makes me abhor ya.” Her band rises to match her sneering glee, providing swaggering brass fanfare to which she adds ironic catcalls – a truly superb opening to the record. This instrumental prowess remains through the majority of ‘Kitchen Sink’, the band revelling in the opportunity to be more expressive and outrageous in tandem with Shah’s stories.
‘Buckfast’ is a perfect example, as they back Shah’s story of a drunken man gaslighting his partner with a skronking and slightly lopsided jazz-rock, portraying his physical and mental instability. In ‘Trad’ Shah is embodying a woman who is desperate to please her man – “shave my legs / freeze my eggs” – and the band provide a lightly danceable rock bop, before the singer declares her readiness for holy matrimony in the chorus, the band giving the song a divine lift through a subtle layer of brass. ‘Walk’ has lightly dextrous percussion that puts us in the shoes of a woman who is simply out for a stroll, but finds herself “swerving perverts” and being watched by “prying eyes” – the rising discomfort and anger brilliantly reflected by buzzing synth textures, while flute animates her picking up the pace to get away.
Central to the whole album is the title track, where Shah takes up the traditional housewife role, bored of what her neighbours think – “Forget about the curtain twitchers / Gossiping boring bunch of bitches.” The band provide echoing jabs of guitar, like thoughts bouncing around her benumbed skull as she watches with pure apathy: “I just let them pass me by.”
The 11 tracks on ‘Kitchen Sink’ each take on an internal perspective of an entirely different life, made vivid through detailed instrumentation – and describing them in words is only scratching the surface. The very idea of a ‘kitchen sink drama’ is to reflect real life and offer some kind of understanding for the personalities within them. That’s exactly what Nadine Shah’s new album does, and the only way to earn that empathy for all the women she portrays is to invest some time in listening to it” - 8/10” – CLASH
Key Cut: Kitchen Sink