Nadine Khouri has been making the greatest records for over a decade and they just keep getting greater. Currently based in in Marseille, Nadine begins a tour of the UK with Barry Adamson this weekend. Keep on Pushing These Walls and Vertigo from the LP Another Life drew a surge of attention in 2022 - produced by John Parish (of you know who fame... No? Alright I will tell you then... P J Harvey & Dry Cleaning). Nadine's style is so sparse and so quietly dramatic, her songs contain way more space than music. Space for the listener to engage with, in a very Barthes sort of way. The spaces are revelatory. Nadine's output so far in 2024 includes a live recording of Lo-Fi Moon and a gently disquieting The Night Will Keep Us Warm. As she steps out on tour, here are her responses to Outsideleft's Three Big Questions for Nadine Khouri...
1. You’re about to embark on a tour, is time on stage a suspension? What remains? Personality? Gender? Fears? What?
Time on stage is certainly set-up for suspension from everyday life and “clock time.” When everything aligns, moments of suspension are really the best thing that can happen at a show. If I’m self-conscious on any level (like from a tech issue onstage, or whatever else) it can really pull you out of it. But it is a beautiful, unnameable thing when you experience pure presence through music, whether as a listener or performer. When I’ve experienced this in the extreme, it is the most liberating feeling of all, I think — there is no more personality, gender or fear to speak of whatsoever; none. I can recall a number of times that’s happened to me and sometimes when you least expect it. I’ve always felt music as a suspension in time, but in the live environment that can manifest collectively and it’s a beautiful thing when it does happen!
2. What is the last thing you look at before you leave your home to go on tour…
I’ll usually check whether I’ve locked the windows or haven’t left anything behind (there’s a good chance I have.) I have a terrible habit of anxiously overpacking which, as you can imagine, is a drag on tour when you’re lugging everything around. I’m usually in a rush, only looking to make sure I haven’t left on an appliance of some kind!
3. Is it possible not to be political as an artist nowadays?
I do think it’s possible for artists these days to be disengaged, sadly. I mean, bearing witness to the “indie music” world around me in the UK/Europe, particularly because of this atmosphere of scarcity, fear, but also distraction… I don’t think it’s healthy for artists to be totally a-political, when there is so much wrong in the world, especially at this moment in time. I don’t mean to say all artists should write political music or devote their platforms to political posts - there is more than one way of being engaged. Everyone has their way of expressing themselves, but there is something really unnerving about how pervasive structural control is in the art industries... I hate that we have to work with companies that harvest all your data, shadow-ban & invisibilize you when you type the word “Palestine”, or DSPs like Spotify that rake in millions, pay nothing to artists, and invest their revenue into the weapons industry... Art for me has always had the power to raise consciousness and enable empathy. If one can’t speak freely in the art world about injustice, or mirror back the world we live in through self-expression, that should raise alarm bells.
Nadine Khouri is on tour with Barry Adamson in May/June 2024
Wed 22 May – Bristol (UK), Strange Brew
Thurs 23 May – Brighton (UK), Komedia Studio
Fri 24 May – London (UK), The Jazz Café
Sat 25 May – Hertford (UK), Hertford Corn Exchange
Wed 29 May – Manchester (UK), Deaf Institute
Thurs 30 May – Leeds (UK), Brudenell Social Club
Fri 31 May – Glasgow (UK), King Tuts
Sat 1 June – Newcastle (UK), Think Tank
Essential Information
Main image on this page by Steve Gullick
Nadine Khouri's website is here→
Nadine on Instagram→ and X→ (formerly known as)
THREE BIG QUESTIONS FOR...
←previously, BARRY ADAMSON
