(2023) Nabihah Iqbal - DREAMER

Review:
British musician, writer, and NTS Radio broadcaster Nabihah Iqbal switched from her DJ moniker, Throwing Shade, to her real name for her first full-length, Weighing of the Heart, a magnificent set of dream pop and post-punk tunes. While she was in the process of recording a follow-up album, her studio was broken into, and she lost all of her work in progress. Additionally, her grandfather suffered a brain hemorrhage, so Iqbal flew to Pakistan to be with her grandparents, where she ended up stuck under lockdown at the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. This gave her a fresh perspective on songwriting, and she started over from scratch, releasing unfinished tracks from her lost album as Blue Magic Gentle Magic before moving on to composing fresh material. She bought a harmonium and an acoustic guitar and used a looping pedal, working on songs that meditate on nature, her identity, and everything that's happened during the previous few years. The record begins with "In Light," an expansive wash of ethereal guitars and harmonium accompanied by a mantra-like repetition of the song's title and a patient bass drum pulse. "Dreamer" is a spacier, more otherworldly version of the type of indie pop Iqbal explored on her debut LP, and "This World Couldn't See Us" taps into a propulsive post-punk rush. It's one of several songs where she delivers her thoughts in poetic spoken verse, similar to previous album highlight "Zone 1 to 6000." "Sunflower" contains spoken love vibrations, while illuminating synths bloom above steady kicks and both guitar and synth basslines. "Lilac Twilight" blends chiming acoustic guitars with sitars, as well as harmonium drone and ghostly wordless vocals, providing one of the album's most reflective and swoon-worthy moments. The ebullient "Gentle Heart" revisits the lo-fi deep house sound of Throwing Shade's House of Silk EP, as Iqbal recounts meeting up for a night out with friends and evokes the ecstatic feelings and positive energy flow. After another levitating, trippy dance track, the mood shifts drastically with the stark, melancholy "Sweet Emotion (lost in devotion)," an ambient space pop lament in which she's willing to wait until the end of time for someone. The album comes down from its astral high with the blissful "A Tender Victory," which sounds like Grouper plus a drummer, and the lovely post-rock farewell "Closer Lover." The brilliant Dreamer encompasses every style Iqbal has previously explored in her music while containing her most introspective, poignant songwriting. — allmusic.com

Track List:
01 - In Light
02 - Dreamer
03 - This World Couldn’t See Us
04 - Sunflower
05 - Lilac Twilight
06 - Gentle Heart
07 - Sky River
08 - Sweet Emotion (lost in devotion)
09 - A Tender Victory
10 - Closer Lover


Media Report:
Genre: dream-pop, electronic, post-punk
Country: London, UK
Format: FLAC
Format/Info: Free Lossless Audio Codec
Bit rate mode: Variable
Channel(s): 2 channels
Sampling rate: 44.1 KHz
Bit depth: 16 bits
Compression mode: Lossless
Writing library: libFLAC 1.2.1 (UTC 2007-09-17)


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