Bella Union have shared the lead single and album title track “Anxious”, a captivating psyche-pop gem from Nell Smith’s upcoming posthumous debut album out April 11th. It sets the tone with a welcome, whimsical look at teenage angst, Smith laying bare the challenges she faced via the anxiety which was amplified as a young person navigating life in a pandemic that consistently shut the doors she was used to bursting through.
Posthumous record releases will always be charged with emotion but when the release comes from a 17 year-old artist that was just getting started it’s heartbreaking beyond expression. Anxious is a mesmerizing selection of songs that explore the highs, lows and uncertainty of teenage life through the eyes of Nell Smith and is the follow-up to Where The Viaduct Looms, her debut collaboration with The Flaming Lips that explored the works of Nick Cave.
“It is still very painful when I realize Nell is gone”, says Wayne Coyne. “I keep thinking I’ll check my text messages from her. I’m sure she has a new drawing or new piece of a song or a new photo of her cat… and then I remember she is gone. Now when I’m listening to her singing these songs there is a brief fantastical joy. Her voice hits the ear, the ear tells brain this is the sound of love, the brain lets the mind fly through the billions of connections it has with Nell’s life… but as it flies it also flies to her death… there is something holy that happens now.”
A lot of Nell’s creative drive was rooted in raw teenage emotions; apprehension; love; travel; gratefulness; ambition; and grief. These moods are visited throughout the tracks on the album with an instrumental approach that brings joy into even the darkest of songs.
Additionally, Nell’s family has announced the creation of the Nell Smith Memorial Fund to honor her legacy and support emerging musicians, nurturing their artistic growth in recognition of the kindness and support that she was lucky enough to receive from the many people she met on her journey. The fund aims to raise $100,000 and award $10,000 every year for ten years with profits from the release going directly into the fund’s corpus. More info on the fund can be found on Nell’s official website here.
What do you think of this one?
