Nadine Khouri
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Nadine Khouri

London, England, United Kingdom | Established. Jan 01, 2016 | INDIE

London, England, United Kingdom | INDIE
Established on Jan, 2016
Solo Alternative Singer/Songwriter

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Music

Press


"Coup de coeur"

Coup de coeur. Nadine Khouri a sorti un EP remarquable. Une nouvelle sorte de PJ Harvey. - Africantape


"Voix sensuelle"

Nadine Khouri envoûte de sa voix sensuelle l’auditeur avide de voyages et d’amours déçus. Un
songwriting soigné, des arrangements au groove sexy mais d’une séduisante sobriété, une
interprétation délicate et habitée. - Insect TV


"Voix suave, sensuelle, limite susurrée, ce single est une splendeur."

Voix suave, sensuelle, limite susurrée, ce single est une splendeur. - Noise R Us


"Superbe voix"

Inspirée, elle sert ici cinq titres magnifiés par sa superbe voix... Sur un rythme lancinant, elle
instaure un climat profond, délié, et s'appuie sur un enrobage sonore sobre. Une légère agitation
parcourt toutefois A Song to the City, second titre tout aussi enjôleur. Ses compagnons musiciens
élaborant un décor élégant, simple certes mais loin de l'ennui ou de l'uniformité, par le bais d'un
panel instrumental élargi, qui monte doucement en intensité en allant de pair avec l'organe vocal
étincelant de la dame. - Foutraque


"Difficile de ne pas etre seduit"

C'est d'abord une voix qui vous chante à l'oreille dans un spectre large entre grain et fluidité.
Beau comme du Hope Sandoval avec une présence moins évanescente et plus charnelle. Difficile
de ne pas être séduit. - Magicbox


"Nadine Khouri prouve qu'elle fait partie de cette race d'artistes intemporelles"

“Cette libano-britannique à la voix grave et chaleureuse signe ici un nouvel EP qui est dans le
sillage de ces chanteuses qui évoluent en clair-obscur, lévitant au-dessus d'eaux calmes aux reflets
surnaturels et imposant une assurance à toutes épreuves. De cette slow-folk lumineuse, Nadine
Khouri prouve qu'elle fait partie de cette race d'artistes intemporelles qui, grâce à ce timbre de voix
si particulier et un song-writing inspiré et des plus travaillés, se placent au-dessus de toutes
polémiques. A Song To The City est donc un recueil de cinq morceaux à la richesse émotionnelle
forte et qui sont portés par la personnalité d'une Nadine Khouri plus habitée que jamais. Il est
étonnant qu'on ai pas entendu parler de la demoiselle plus tôt. En effet, cela fait déjà cinq années
qu'elle nous fait partager ses chansons alambiquées mais elle toujours resté discrète. Il est donc
grand temps que Nadine Khouri sorte de l'ombre. A Song To The City devrait l'aider grandement
tant son talent éclate ici au grand jour.” - Liability


"Full and embracing"

On record she sounds like she's telling of some dangerous and transient life and singing it confidentially into your ear, the intrigue added to by slightly out of sync double tracking, like an identical twin that turns out to be a mere sister.
.... They still got a fair breadth of sound out, especially on set closer 'Blue Of Princes' which takes them right from paraffin tainted folk into a fully reverbed rock number that sounds just a bit like it could be a classic if it gets a bit of air. Live, Nadine's voice is full and embracing. - Catshoegazing


"Nadine Khouri envoute de sa voix sensuelle"

Chanteuse d’origine libanaise, Nadine Khouri envoûte de sa voix sensuelle l’auditeur avide de voyages et d’amours déçus. Un nouvel EP sur le label One Flash qui n’est pas sans rappeler les lancinantes atmosphères feutrées de Hope Sandoval. Un songwriting soigné, des arrangements au groove sexy mais d’une séduisante sobriété, une interprétation délicate et habitée, autant de compagnons idéals pour faire la route… dans son canapé. - Insect TV


"Son talent eclate au grand jour"

Cette libano-britannique à la voix grave et chaleureuse signe ici un nouvel ep qui est dans le sillage de ces chanteuses qui évoluent en clai-obscur, lévitant au-dessus d'eaux calmes aux reflets surnaturels et imposant une assurance à toutes épreuves. De cette slow-folk lumineuse, Nadine Khouri prouve qu'elle fait partie de cette race d'artistes intemporelles qui, grâce à ce timbre de voix si particulier et un song-writing inspiré et des plus travaillés, se placent au-dessus de toutes polémiques. A Song To The City est donc un recueil de cinq morceaux à la richesse émotionnelle forte et qui sont portés par la personnalité d'une Nadine Khouri plus habitée que jamais. Il est étonnant qu'on ai pas entendu parler de la demoiselle plus tôt. En effet, cela fait déjà cinq années qu'elle nous fait partager ses chansons alambiquées mais elle toujours resté discrète. Il est donc grand temps que Nadine Khouri sorte de l'ombre. A Song To The City devrait l'aider grandement tant son talent éclate ici au grand jour. - Liability


"Superbe voix"

Brittanico-Libanaise, Nadine Khouri en est à son second EP, après un album datant de 2005, qui faisait suite à un EP inaugural. Inspirée, elle sert ici cinq titres magnifiés par sa superbe voix, proche, sur The arms of love, de celle de Hope Sandoval. Sur un rythme lancinant, elle instaure un climat profond, délié, et s'appuie sur un enrobage sonore sobre. Une légère agitation parcourt toutefois A song to the city, second titre tout aussi enjôleur. Ses compagnons musiciens élaborant un décor élégant, simple certes mais loin de l'ennui ou de l'uniformité, par le bais d'un panel instrumental élargi, qui monte doucement en intensité en allant de pair avec l'organe vocal étincelant de la dame. Le sombre Rouge (True love is gonna split), aux effluves jazzy, feutré, confirme le talent de la londonienne, qui nous dépayse le temps de l'intro de Blue of princes pour ensuite verser dans une orientation noisy bienvenue, que surpolmbe sa voix ample. L'initiative est louable et vient troubler l'apparente sérénité du disque, qui reprend d'ailleurs ses droits, dans une atmosphère cependant obscure, comme souvent avec Nadine, sur Invisible. Se basant sur le quotidien, l'amour, la vie au 21ème siècle, Beirut et une certaine nostalgie, elle utilise ces thèmes pour écrire et composer avec talent, et mériterait de trouver une place entièrement reconnue, au minimum sur l'échiquier musical anglais.
- Foutraque


"Brilliant is getting there"

A deceptively serene Patti Smith staking claim to an early morning cityscape. Very, very good. Good doesn't even touch the sides. Brilliant is getting there and essential is nearer. Pay something to listen to Nadine Khouri, she is worth it. - Unpeeled


"The ability to make quietness sound huge"

Nadine Khouri has always had the ability to make quietness and subtlety sound huge and mean more than it possibly could... The overwhelming breathless cool of Nadine’s voice is something that you cannot go without hearing. - The 405


"Top of my playlist"

Speaking at the launch gig for her new EP A Song To The City, Nadine Khouri confirmed my own impressions, that this is a record of displacement, of being an outsider. It may be a song to cities, but the cities referred to are ones observed from a slight remove and lived in as a stranger. Her songs tell tales of daybreak parks within sight of Brooklyn, of broken things and of cigarette stubs.

It's a lovely record and one I've been listening to for a couple of weeks. She sounds like she's telling of some dangerous and transient life. It is sung confidentially into your ear, the intrigue added to by moments of slightly out of sync double tracking, like an identical twin that turns out to be a mere sister. It's the immediacy of that vocal that sets this apart. It would be too far to call it breathy or murmured but it sure feels intimate. That feeling goes with the stories, the private and intimate observations shared.

Both the writing and recording were done on the move, written wherever she was staying, recorded in friends’ halls and sometimes bathrooms. Nadine explained how she had shared files back and to across the Atlantic. I don't think the internet has necessarily made the process easier, just expanded the possibilities. As she described it, the process became so "open" that she had to resist the temptation to add yet more and more to what is already packed and dense instrumentation, so much so that Nadine was concerned that this disjointed approach might have
had some effect on the final output. She needn't worry, it manages to retain a great sense of cohesion, albeit with a mood that progresses from quiet openings and paraffin tainted folk right of 'The Arms Of Love' and the title track. Neither of these are particularly stripped, there is a fill and backwash of scratches and ticks and effects.

'Rouge' is remarkable for it's lyrics. "Here the boys smell of death and desire, the girls of sex and carelessness". It sure ain't Surrey. The standout is 'Blue of Princes'. This starts with a banjo sounding like it is played in a souk, half spoken until there is a moment worthy of Mazzy Star in their heyday when you realise the acoustic lilt you had been chilling to has slowly dropped off a cliff into something loud and entirely later.

The carefully finger picked 'Invisible' is a suitable coda.

Slow burner warning - it took me more than one listen, always a danger in this attention deficit world of downloaded music. It now sits somewhere at the top of my play-list. - God is in the TV


"Mesmerizing, fascinating"

A gravely, female voice sings modern, alternative torch-songs and the atmosphere is so mesmerizing, so fascinating you wish this late night moment would last forever. The setting is a dark bar or ballroom, the mood is fatigued and the recess of excess is hanging like smoke over the crowd that is waiting to get ready to go home and give the secrets of the night a goodbye kiss, but it is not yet the right moment to do so. And then a band comes up on stage accompanied by a singer in a long, dark velvet dress that perfectly fits the husky, swaying voice and as soon as she starts to sing, time stands still, the smoke stops to move and any further drink will make you only more sober and not more drunk. Nadine Khouri is that singer and the five songs on this EP are all made to make you a big fan of her voice.

Khouri works herself through these five songs with a rising sense of imminence. The songs start slow and meandering, very much like Transmissionary Six (by the way one of the most underrated bands and a great singer, Terri Moeller – also known as drummer to the Walkabouts – with a song quite close to that of Khouri but even further in the huskiness) and then the arrangements grow and grow and grow. Until towards the end Khouri confronts us with harshly played indie-guitars and power that comes from emotions alone. Always throughout her songs is a wavering image of displacement and the loneliness many people feel in this globalized world, in which meanings get lost and all those values and senses that lives used to center around in centuries ago are destroyed like the woods in southern America.

Maybe it has to do with Nadine Khouri originally coming from Lebanon, but having found a second home in Great Britain. Her Arabic roots are only to be heard in her songs in small doses. Parts of “Blue of Princes” wail with the well known oriental harmonies, but then she falls into a heavy pace, that is more akin to Sinead O’Connor or Dolores O’Riordan – and Ireland is even a longer way from Lebanon than London. Unfortunately that song is definitely over too soon. I would have loved to bang my head and mind some more to it.

But how much can you ever find a second home? Usually when leaving the place you wwere born in, you lose a total and only find a half. Displacement, in time, place and sense, is one of the big philosophical struggles of our times. Relocating to London is no way to bring a sense of home to any person, because a place as big as London will never be able to act as a home to people not born and grown up there. It just offers to many things, it can mean anything to anybody, whatever you look for, you’ll find – but you’ll also find the complete opposite. Anyway, that kind of dialectic seems to permeat all songs and adds a lot to the fascination.

It should also be mentioned that Nadine Khouri is not only a singer but also a guitar player, so that she seems to write and sing her own songs. Now that cliché of the female singer-songwriter gets trashed through the media channels every other month with another pretty face, ever since Alanis Morisette proved that it is a successful model. And, to be honest, I wish all those young ladies lots of luck but I really can’t stand their washed down country-pop songs anymore. Good looks really have nothing to do with talent – just take a look at Mick Jagger. More interestingly is that Khouri employs some very interesting kinds of picking and guitar playing in general in her songs.

All in all you could complain about one thing only, and that is that there are only five songs on this EP. But then, if that means that Khouri is among the rare breed of artists nowadays that knows that more and more is not the better way, that less is more and that it is much better to present five great songs in one package than to add another five mediocre ones and wash down the whole impact with compromises, then it is all the better for it. After all you can listen to the record again and again and then again, if you need to. I could listen to the closing song “Invisible” of this EP forever it seems. But now I am tired and think I’ll go to sleep while I play this EP one more time. - Cracked Reviews


"Stunning"

Closing track ‘Invisible’ is stunning – sometimes the strongest words are softly spoken. - Tasty Fanzine


"Lyrical brilliance"

The beautiful use of percussion in Khouri's latest perfectly accompanies the singer's spoken word track creating a chilled ambience. Worth a listen if only for the lyrical brilliance 'Rouge' offers. - Musicfix


"Stunning"

"Musically this makes for stunning listening. You need this." - Rough Trade Shop (UK)


"Mesmerizing"

“A voice that can slide from velvet to gravel in a measure’s time... Mesmerizing.” - Ramsay Short, Daily Star (LB)


"Intimate Beauty"

"A London-based songwriter whose glorious self-released debut album 'Cuts from the Insiide' shimmers with an intimate beauty which recalls the likes of Elliot Smith, Stina Nordenstam, Cat Power... a remarkably talented young lady." - Dan Carney, Tunetribe (UK)


"Delicious"

"Her vocals are delicious." - Smallfish Records (UK)


"Outstanding"

"The outstanding Nadine Khouri is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who effortlessly combines beautiful melodies with passion and emotion. A talented performer who deserves to be heard." - Amanda Glynn, Troubadour (UK)


"Brilliant"

"A brilliant talent." - L*A*W*M, Lancaster


"Delicious, husky voice"

"Nadine Khouri's delicious, husky voice, lilting over the strains of an ominously rippling guitar in her song "All This Violence," bears comparison to English singer-songwriter Beth Orton" - Matthew Mosley - Daily Star (LB)


Discography

THE SALTED AIR album TBR (2016)

I RAN THRU THE DARK single TBR (2016)

YOU GOT A FIRE single (2015)

ROUGE (TRUE LOVE IS GONNA SPILL) single (2010)

A SONG TO THE CITY EP (2010)
 

Photos

Bio

Noted by John Parish (PJ Harvey, Giant Sand) for her voice, British-Lebanese musician & songwriter Nadine Khouri was invited to sing on a track on his Screenplay LP and subsequently to record her forthcoming album with the producer in his hometown of Bristol.   

Influenced by dream-pop, moody soundtracks and spoken-word, Khouri’s sound has been described as a “music born of perennial outsider-status.”  

Sparse & minimal in its arrangement, the resulting album is a haunting collection of poetic & atmospheric meditations on loss & transformation. The album also features contributions from Irish singer-songwriter Adrian Crowley, violinist Emma Smith (Elysian Quartet, Hot Chip) among others.

A first track You Got A Fire was released as a digital download with an accompanying video directed by photographer Steve Gullick.  The track was featured on God is in the TV as Track of the Day and received coverage in Le Cargo! (FR) Noisey/Vice (IT) Bodyspace (PT) The Earology Dept (US) Fresh on the Net (UK) Triple W (M-E) and more.  It also received airplay on BBC6 (Tom Robinson) Amazing Radio (Simon Raymonde) Resonance FM (Dexter Bentley) & various local radio stations.

In the past few months, Khouri has performed in London's most prestigious venue - Union Chapel, National Portrait Gallery, Cecil Sharp HouseRoyal Festival Hall, to name a few - and supported alt-folk maverick Howe Gelb, Mary Hampton, John Parish, Josienne Clarke & Ben Walker, garnering positive reviews for her live performances in MOJO magazine and more.

The hotly-tipped album due for release in the autumn of 2016.

Band Members