Nigerian-born, North Carolina-raised musician Uwade will release her long-awaited debut album Florilegium next month via Thirty Tigers, and shared another preview of the forthcoming album with Harmattan. Uwade grew up steeped in the sounds of hymnal choral music and Nigerian Highlife on her late-father’s car radio.
Uwade
Harmattan in particular emerged from a period where she was immersed in West African music, specifically afrobeats and string instruments that she found bordered on medieval European harpsichords. While tracking the drum solo for the track, she shared with percussionist Jason Burger videos of an Esan dance masquerade called Egbabonelimhin that was performed during her father’s burial for reference; during his first few takes she got the chills. The resulting track is an album standout. We meet a new side of her musical aesthetic here too, more true-blue pop earworm.
On the new single, Uwade shares: “For a long time, this song was a giant puzzle. I couldn’t figure out lyrics, a compelling arrangement, or how to transform it from the earliest stages of the demo to what it is now. Somehow the song’s creative cycle is reflected in the subject matter–lots of questions, few answers, and being forced to find comfort in the chaos. It turned out that every new phase of experimentation unlocked another element of the song that I loved. As Harmattan went from demo to studio to demo to studio, I refined my vision and the song became exactly what I wanted. ‘Will you sway with me when my voice gives out?’ Is one of my favourite lyrics on Florilegium. Writing it helped me to unravel a huge knot of anxiety around being a musician that I’d been dealing with for some time. I don’t think there’s an answer, but I’m ok with that for now.”
Watch its Jason Wishnow-directed video below:
Uwade has been everywhere over the past few years, quietly. Her emotive voice is what opens Fleet Foxes’ GRAMMY®-nominated album, Shore. Since then, she has earned praise her for early singles, collaborated with her local North Carolina community on Psychic Hotline, has opened for the likes of The Strokes, Jamila Woods, Sylvan Esso, Local Natives, and more – all the while studying at Columbia and Oxford. At long last, she will release her debut album Florilegium, out on 25th April via Ehiose Records / Thirty Tigers.
Uwade’s solo output and collaborations have been met with critical acclaim, and now she prepares to release a full-length entirely her own. Florilegiumis a shimmering anthology that finds sweetness and light in sorrow, an amalgamation of disparate influences and recording sessions seamlessly fitting together through her expressive, expansive voice. Her academic studies informed her work with astonishing originality and depth. Currently in school for her PhD, she cites Catullus and Virgil among her influences (along with Julian Casablancas and Nina Simone).
The album’s title is borrowed from the Latin adjective florilegus, which means ‘flower-gathering.’ ‘I offer these songs as flowers of gratitude to those who have seen me through my life. I share them with the world as a reminder to cherish opportunities for renewal,’ she says.
Florilegium came together in three studio sessions broken up over a year and a half. It began in upstate New York in 2022 with Sam Cohen, after she spent a stretch touring heavily in support of Fleet Foxes. Early in 2024, her friend Jon Seale offered her a week at his studio space in New York City, where she further honed her ideas — and then she returned to her home state of North Carolina later that year, finishing the album with Alli Rogers at Betty’s, Sylvan Esso’s sun-soaked studio in Chapel Hill. Uwade felt decisive, empowered, completely in control of her own creative vision.
Upcoming Tour Dates:
MARCH
25th – London, UK @ Rough Trade West
26th – London, UK @ The Forge
APRIL
24th – Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right
MAY
3rd – Seattle, WA @ Barboza
10th – Chicago, IL @ Schubas
15th – Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge
16th-18th – Big Sur, CA @ Hipnic SOLD OUT
JULY
5th – Quilcene, WA @ Quilcene Lantern
AUGUST
28th-31st – Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival
The Pale White And Lizzie Esau Captivate The Hackney Audience At Oslo
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