~This Elegant Chaos~#8: Nedelle

As I write this Blog, Adele is currently atop both the British album and singles charts, and this is indeed a good thing. Whilst we here at the ~Streetlamp~ would probably never consider writing an article on Adele, we genuinely like her songs and, more importantly, if she is at number one then it means there is no tripe from talent shows, ghastly dad-rock, or fly-by-night patchwork-making producers at the top of the charts. Britain rarely has quality chart-toppers these days, so when something decent gets there it's always worthy of celebration.
But how much better would it have been if it had been the similarly monickered Nedelle who was currently ruling the roost?

I've been listening to a lot of Nedelle's music of late. There's just something pure and crystal clean about the sound of her music, and the pastoral beauty of her voice.
Nedelle is Nedelle Torrisi who hails from the Bay Area of California and who has been releasing her music since around 2003 through such fine record labels as Kill Rock Stars and Kimchee, and who has recorded solo, worked with Thom Moore as 'Nedelle And Thom' releasing the wonderful 'Summerland' album, supplied vocals for the magnificent Saturday Looks Good To Me, and now fronts the band Cryptacize.


Her first full album was 'Republic Of Two' released in 2003 and which garnered her almost immediate cult acclaim. The title track is featured above, all homemade hip-hopish grooves and treated vocals that don't disguise the Laura Nyro/Joni Mitchell qualities of her own voice. It sounds like music beamed in from a dream on a Winter's morning, like a long lie in on a cold, rainy Sunday.
My own personal favourite track of Nedelle's is 'In Time It Snows' from the 'Summerland' album, this is perfect music for wallowing in when life is getting you down a tad. Louche, languid Jazz vibes within the music before her voice cuts in against the beat sounding like the voice of a long lost girlfriend, a hidden girl of your dreams. It transports you to a hinterland where you can't remember if SHE was real or just a figment of your imagination. If the greatest music is the best medicine, then this song is placebo and panacea, painkiller and Prozac, dulling the grind of everyday living and lifting the soul to where the air is cleaner.

Thanks to Kill Rock Stars you can download this track for free, along with a couple of other wonderful songs.

In Time It Snows

The Natural Night

Begin To Breathe

If you haven't caught up on Cryptacize yet, and you really should have as they've been playlisted on Radio 1 and 2, and they're always being played on 6 Music, then I've included a couple of tasters below and I'm sure that as soon as you hear 'Tail And Mane' you'll wonder where such an exquisite song has been all your life.


Aahh, good old ~Streetlamp~, we're not just here for the nasty things in life like the shittiness of the 9-to-5, we're here to shout our love of music from the rooftops, and for brightening my world up of late, let's here it for Nedelle!
~Gordon~