ivy room presentsTUESDAY FEB 9THâNAIMA BOCKMILDREDâDoors 7pm / Show 7:30pmADVANCE TICKETS AVAILABLE / $22 DoorâIVY ROOM860 San Pablo Ave, Albany ⢠21+NAIMA BOCKâMost of the writing of Naima Bockâs second album, Below A Massive Dark Land (out 27 September via Sub Pop), was a solitary affair. It may not sound it â itâs made up of strong, purposeful arrangements with a huge host of musicians; filled with cradling space and warm light. This will also come as a surprise to anyone who has seen Naima perform in the time since the release of her 2022 debut Giant Palm, undoubtedly a communal experience.With a band of ten, three, or even just solo, when Naima plays thereâs a rare bond between the musicians on stage and the audience. In their interview with her, The Quietus declared âafter every song the applause and cheering is immense, so immense in fact that it seems to be coming from a different place than the usual formalities of a live show, a link between performer and artist forged somewhere deeper and more personal.âIt was in Giant Palmâs music too, a record that sweeps and swells, a chorus of voices and instrumentation that rises and falls as one alongside Naimaâs own somersaulting voice.Itâs true though, most of BelowâŚâs songs started life very simply; Naima alone, living in her grandmotherâs shed in South London, writing just with her voice, guitar and violin. Sheâs no violin virtuoso but had taken it up as a songwriting exercise for its ability to draw melodies from her â a trick that undoubtedly worked, these are songs that drift into the back of your mind and settle there like fallen leaves, songs you wake up singing. The remainder was written on the road after those moments of audience connection, in the quiet that follows.Thereâs power in the solitary too. Giant Palm was arranged with collaborator Joel Burton but going it alone in search of something truly hers, Naima found she was capable of more. âAfter me and Joel stopped working togetherâ, she remembers, âit was an impossibility to even fathom doing arrangements myself but then I started learning violin. Playing it isnât easy but writing melodies on it isâ. Finding that she could go it alone was incredibly powerful for Naima, âI think I needed it, to be able to feel proud of something. Like, thatâs me! That feels good.âOnce that writing portion is over though, this ends. The record is not a stark, stripped back affair. Below⌠still has that majesty that made Giant Palm so remarkable. Tugging the first record down from the skies and spreading it across the earth; thereâs a newfound vocal power and confidence born from hundreds of hours on stage and the music sounds fuller, more tangible, but no less enveloping.This can be found in the albumâs lead singles. âKaleyâ feels fresh and surprising in its rug-pull choppiness but is distinctly Naima in its swinging, jubilant choruses. The accompanying âFurther Awayâ takes a different tack, drawing you irresistibly near in its simplicity. Finally, the hazy, luxurious beauty of âFeed My Releaseâ draws on the sepia-toned traditions of The Roches, John Prine and Loudon Wainwright III but imbues them with the kind of stark confessional songwriting of Mount Eerie. Lyrically reaching deeper and darker than Giant Palm, these are ambitious, rich arrangements.âKaleyâ and âAgeâ were produced by Naima herself and âFeed My Releaseâ was produced by Naima and carolineâs Oliver Hamilton who also helped in various places with arrangement. For the bulk of the record however, Naima brought her arrangement ideas into The Crypt Studios in London where she worked with Bristolian duo Jack Ogborne (aka Bingo Fury) & Joe Jones who were working together and producing for the first time outside of Ogborneâs own album, alongside a core band of Clem Appleby (Bass, Backing vocals), Meitar Wegman (Saxophone), Oscar De Guardans (Backing vocals, Electric Guitar, Harmonium) and Cassidy Hansen (Drums, Backing vocals) alongside and expansive choir, horn and string section. âI put my foot down slightly more this time but thatâs not to detract from how much everyone put into it,â Naima says, âit shouldnât be understated their contribution to the recordâ.Having not gelled with slicker, more experienced producers, Naima found the duo a production team who were able to take her ideas and apply a boundless enthusiasm and meticulous attention to detail in executing them. They had a remarkable knack for knowing exactly how to record Naimaâs less-concrete ideas and a flexibility in getting what she needed particularly when it came to recording her voice. âI do still struggle with singing in the studioâ, Naima recalls, âwe had to figure it out. I kept having to put myself in different places like in the hallway, or in another room just to be able to access somethingâ.During the release of Giant Palm, Naima spoke about how she left previous bands and went it alone due to difficulty enjoying touring. However, with headline tours including Londonâs EartH and support shows for artists such as A. Savage, J. Mascis, Squid, Rodrigo Amarente, Arab Strap, and This is the Kit, Naimaâs feet have hardly touched the ground since 2022. Instead, what she found is her place in touring, largely entirely alone. âI managed to find my favourite little safe spacesâ, she says, âits nice compiling spots like that in every city, now every time I circle back to the place, there's like at least five or six people I knowâ.This is touring at its most romantic. âTraipsing around and playing musicâ, staying with artists, friends, or just friendly people and finding the artistic pockets in every city. Naima has always been slightly nomadic â living as a child between Brazil, Greece, and all over London â and that background has now led to a place where sheâs truly fallen for touring and travel. This appears in the album title which comes from Olga Tokarczukâs book Flights, a description of the view from an aeroplane. Itâs a title that initially may sound imposing but in its context this vastness, dimpled with the weak glow of city lights, is a form of comfort.These safe spaces bleed into the writing; songs written hiking the wide horizons of Tucson, Arizona or inspired by the residents of one particular Amsterdam hotel with a penchant for swimming naked in the canal behind. âFurther Awayâ meanwhile was written on a rare non-musical holiday in Greece, âafter about four days without an instrument, I start getting itchy. So, I went to the shop and bought a tiny bouzouki and wrote it on thatâ. This became the albumâs starkest moment, one of those rare songs that arrived so tender and fully-formed it didnât need to be touched.Itâs not all grand vistas and clear waters though. There were lonely, difficult moments and clarifying conversations in these places around things like depression, family and abortion, relationships and break-ups and growing old that melded with Naimaâs own experiences, bringing them into view for her, working their way into her lyrics and finding release.It's these types of conversations that mean the lyrical content of Below⌠often yearns for more stability. âGentleâ wrestles with ideas of settling more. âIt's something I'd like to do one day but my tendency is to move, I find myself unable to feel fully at home in the worldâ, she says, âI just feel like it would be difficult to bridge that gapâ. The album elsewhere is often interested in the process of ageing. This comes in the reckoning that âgravity is just kind of slowly pulling us downâ in âMy Sweet Bodyâ, a song where sweetness is gently tinged with a creeping unease as she sings âI cannot seem to look after this bodyâ. âItâs beautifulâ Naima says, âbut emotional to think about and a burden sometimesâ. The traps we can fall into as we age appear in the wry good time of âAgeâ. Naima saw this first-hand on a less pleasant touring experience staying with someone whose âthings were better in my dayâ mindset consumed and warped otherwise well-intentioned beliefs.This results in a record that may occasionally appear to contradict itself; communal but solitary, rooted in place but free, intimate but spacious. This, however, is what makes Below⌠comforting and familiar. Who doesnât contain within them these contradictions, who doesnât want things that are directly at odds with each other. Like the safe spaces Naima has found the world over, Below⌠doesnât require all the answers, not yet, but provides a safe place to look.mildredâmildred is a band from Oakland, CA of four equal parts: four singers, four songwriters. Their debut EP 'mild' released via Memorials of Distinction / Dog Day Records.mildred were first friends, then roommates, then a band. Their songs are the result of living room sessions before and after dinner. The border between the living/practice room and kitchen was open and porous.Jack and Henry grew up in Portland, Oregon at rival schools. Henry and Will met in their mid-20s and discovered they were third cousins (their grannies were best friends). Matt met Henry many years back after spending summers on the same farm in Southern Oregon.The songs that make up mild were recorded over the course of a couple weekends in the living room, Will and Jack had amassed enough janky microphones and working knowledge of the recording process to duct tape their way through a recording session.released October 3, 2025
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