Nadine Khouri - The Salted Air

  by Steve Kinrade

published: 25 / 2 / 2017

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Nadine Khouri is a British-Lebanese musician and songwriter currently based in London, whose output has been described as “music born of perennial outsider status” in her press cuttings. For this album, she and producer John Parrish (PJ Harvey, Giant Sand) have assembled an impressive backing band, consisting of the likes of Huw Bennett, Jean-Marc Butty, J. Allen and Ruban Byrne. There are guest contributions from Adrian Crowley, Emma Smith and Florian Tanant, and with Parish himself also featuring. After considerable listenings, the main strength of this album is its production, and John Parrish needs to be highly commended for it. Both minimal and tasteful, it constantly provides an atmospheric and intriguing backing to Khouri’s musings on loss and detachment. The album starts strongly, with the opening tracks 'Thru You I Awaken' and 'I Ran Thru The Dark' successfully showcasing her beautiful voice, the latter composition superbly building to an emotional dénouement. However, it is the tracks that follow that sort of merge into a particular, albeit sonically pleasant, oneness, and don’t hold one’s attention as much as the opening. Melodically, it just seems stock. Things, however, perk up with the track 'Shake It Like a Shaman', where Nadine’s voice shines and the collective backing vocals hint at a sinister supernatural ceremony motif. 'Catapult' concludes the album with another strong vocal, and manages to bring the album back on track, hinting at a future promises. 'The Salted Air' is a mixed bag, but certainly holds more positives than negatives. Undoubtedly Nadine Khouri has a very fine voice, and certain songs in this collection demonstrate that she has the talent to succeed. 'Mojo' magazine recently featured Khouri as a Rising Artist To Watch and in recent months, Nadine’s also performed in renowned London venues like The Union Chapel and Cecil Sharp House. So she is an obvious talent. But this is John Parrish’s album, and for those who are students of the art of musical production, this is an essential reference work.

Track Listing:-

1 Thru You I Awaken
2 I Ran Thru the Dark (To the Beat of My Heart)
3 Jerusalem Blue
4 Broken Star
5 Daybreak
6 The Salted Air
7 Surface of the Sea
8 You Got a Fire
9 Shake It Like a Shaman
10 Catapult

Band Links:-

https://www.facebook.com/nadinekhourimusic
https://twitter.com/nadine_khouri
https://www.instagram.com/nadine_khouri/
https://www.youtube.com/user/oneflashrecords

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