A thread for Natalie Prass

Just discovering this. I think her songs and the arrangements are excellent, but there is something a little off about the vocals, like they sound too teen pop for the maturity of the songs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0pv7rN-_IWU

looking forward to the new album

said album is called The Future and The Past, out 06/01. "Short Court Style" is great.

her vocals sound a little less timid than before (the primary objection about her debut iirc), befitting the more muscular instrumental

hmmmmmmm

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9T0wYQpAlzo

don't know how I feel about the chorus but the rest is good

Yeah that chorus is a bit lazy but love the neo-soul vibe on this one and all of her songs have stunning arrangements. Really liking the production on this two songs so far.

not exactly blown away by the lyrics but uh also not exactly the target demo on this one

Kinda reminds me of 'Worldwide Underground'-era Badu

File under: New material that retroactively makes me question what I heard in the old material. Such a bland song and such hokey genre appropr... er, homage

The new album is excellent. V different to the first. Her Janet Jackson cover was a great signpost for where she's gone.

https://www.npr.org/2018/05/24/613165661/first-listen-natalie-prass-the-future-and-the-past

Based on the opening seconds of this, brad should probably hear it

Agreed. And it's really, really good.

Some of this I'm not sure about (still find "Sisters" an irritant) but man the sonics on this are really something. 70s protest soul + 80s/90s r&b with a heavy dollop of strings and jazz piano? someone more versed in the genre(s) the extent to which someone's tried this already

It's been quite a while since production stuck out to me like it does here, on first listen, you're completely otm. It's so clear and super funky and soulful.

I'm still not that keen on Sisters, but the rest of it is sounding really good. Reminds me of that gorgeous last Corinne Bailey Rae album in places.

as with the last one, the vocals are gonna be the make or break for a lot of people I think

Ship Goes Down absolutely kills me. The record's a masterpiece.

this album is gorgeous and yeah wow, Ship Goes Down

Yeah so this completely rules, confirmed on a long summer walk

her Spotify inspirations playlist contains a lot of stuff that's new to me

https://open.spotify.com/user/natalieprassofficial/playlist/73bDJ40IUKgE1HCLnjJnGR?si=BGrJEuyqTwS9mlGZf4cPUQ

album of the fuckin year

This is gorgeous.

yesss brad!

"Ain't Nobody" is an amazing closer, love the way it combines all the album's sounds and even throws in that little reprise of "Hot for the Mountain"

why do birds, do they suddenly
disappear

"never too late" is so good

my pithy not-entirely-accurate capsule description of this record is "what if laura nyro made a shalamar album" but i think "ship go down" really lives up to it

Yeah that back stretch of the album is just ridiculous. I still don't like "Sisters" but I appreciate how big a swing it is.

i've decided i like "sisters" though i wasn't sure what to make of it before hearing the full record

"everybody's talkin' but there's nothing to say" is chorus of the year for me

that guitar scratching through "ain't nobody," that's the sound i wanna hear all the time

actually nm it's a synth. or both

I sort of can't believe that it's mostly the same group of folks behind this record and the debut.

I’ll have to hear this based on the fervour

Only song I’ve heard from her is the one that sounded like Disney (think it was the final song on her debut?) anyways her voice and the arrangement was twee to me but perhaps that was an outlier

this one sounds nothing like that for the most part

Ok I’ll take the inspiration from this thread and go walk f with this album :)

Never Too Late through to Ain't Nobody is a really incredible run of tracks

The production on this thing is impeccable. Fantastic sounding album. Didn't expect to like this as much as I do.

Just wanna echo the chorus that this is upper echelon level dope

Surprised I haven't seen more (any?) chatter about it beyond here

As a piano player and music lover, the pfogrsssion In hot for the mountain rules me

Some of the backing vocals bring to mind deradoorian and Coffman from dirty projectors

I sort of can't believe that it's mostly the same group of folks behind this record and the debut.

i love this album

round and round
had ups and downs

the progresssion In hot for the mountain rules me

Yeah this stood out for me too - liking this album a lot on first listen

This album is so good

Sisters tho sucks

Disagree, re sisters. This is one of the three best albums I've heard all year. And this is a very good year.

This is very good. The "Your Fire"/"The Fire"/"Hot…" section is a bit ho hum, but the rest is, um, fire. Will probably buy.

Yeah, new one is like it's by someone else entirely.

Which does intrigue!

Yeah I love this record and I didn’t care for that Disney esque track - felt like just another Josephine foster devendra freak folk thing

whoa this is different from her first one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dnux4JLY0Eo

really like the video for 'the fire'

album is still one of my favourites this year

yep, I still play it a lot even with the deluge of great new albums

It's easily in my top 3 of the year

Saw her last night, really really great show. Don't miss this tour, please.

http://vancouverweekly.com/natalie-prass-on-trying-to-stay-hopeful-in-troubling-times-61689-2/

I got to interview her! I'm new to music journalism, so that was pretty exciting.

oh very cool josh

album definitely in my top 10

great piece Josh!

Thank you!

I’m actually at her Vancouver concert now, any ilx users here? She’s not on for another hour but it’s still heartbreaking how few ppl there are here

kinda crazy that you can release critically acclaimed albums and have a label doing promo and everything and still not necessarily fill small venues

my brother once saw Clipse, just slightly past their prime, play a Danish club in front of an audience of about 20 people

picked up this record for the first time in months and i can't believe it exists, what a rush <3

brad you're getting an EOY list ready aren't you

who can say

also imo i should not be getting a year-end list ready bc it's still october but for some reason websites are beholden to magazine publishing schedules

rigging up the brad signal

https://www.stereogum.com/2027828/natalie-prass-prefab-sprout-wild-horses/video/

oh my god

She really nails it with that live version

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tUbMT0T2rIc

"Oh My", 1:35 in, the cadence of "Seems like everyday we're losing..." is bringing up another song, but I'm stumped. Thinking Prince or some current synthpop band, and near resigned to just stumbling across it in the future. Any ideas?

nice performance on corden:

https://youtu.be/Z2oZDu-V-v8

That's great! She should be a huge star right now.

I keep going back to that Sprout cover. Such a gorgeous version.

more fun: https://www.npr.org/2019/02/22/697010742/natalie-prass-tiny-desk-concert

awesome to know that Hot For The Mountain is her favorite, as it's my favorite too.