This morning we are thrilled to welcome London-based vocalist, guitarist and pianist, Julia Biel, who selects three swaying Sunday tunes for us.
Described as ‘the best British vocalist to emerge in an age’ by The Independent newspaper, Julia Biel’s voice is beginning to be heard. With her third and self-titled album, she covers such themes as loneliness, love and uncertainty, as well as directing anger towards the reality of an insidious link between state apparatus and the economy and big corporations.
Julia Biel’s selection
Zakir Hussain – Zakir
Julia Biel: ” This has been a cherished tune for me for a couple of decades now. There’s something so incredibly fresh about it, it never fails to revitalise me and replenish my energy stores. It’s so open and questioning in spirit but also coming from a place of acceptance, just perfect to relax and unwind to. “
Joni Mitchell – Morning Morgantown
Julia Biel: ” I only discovered this particular album of Joni’s a couple of years ago. I put it on in the record shop and fell in love with the first song ‘Morning Morgantown’ within about 20 seconds. The warmth of it wraps around me and is immediately comforting and shielding. Joni’s voice is at her most incredible on this album, so pure and effortless how it floats off into her high register, it’s mesmerising and the song-writing falls right into that sweet spot between complex and accessible. “
We Were Strangers – Unforgiving War
Julia Biel: ” I stumbled upon this little known gem right before Christmas. So emotive in its delivery, I’m hooked in from the off every time I listen to it and the visual imagery and beautiful subtle build in the production keeps me enthralled to the end. Love it. “
MailTape’s selection
Julia Biel – Dead Slept Rough
Sanjay: ” This is a neatly structured track taken from Julia Biel’s self-titled LP released last year. Opening with an instrumental section and then a change of tempo when the vocals are introduced, it compels the listener to exercise their anger and criticism towards the reality of an insidious link between state apparatus and the economy and big corporations. “
Laura Nyro – Upstairs By a Chinese Lamp
Sanjay: ” In most of Laura Nyro’s songs you never quite know where she’s (melodically and rhythmically) going to go, but it’s always worth stringing along for the ride. This torchy lullaby set against a hushed orchestration from her 1970 album, Christmas and the Beads of Sweat, is one of my favourites. “
Our Native Daughters – Quasheba, Quasheba
Sanjay: ” Released just a few weeks ago with the ‘Songs of Our Native Daughters’ LP, “Quasheba, Quasheba” is a simmering track that slowly builds, with Dirk Powell and Leyla McCalla adding cello and electric guitar accompaniment to Allison Russell’s vocal. After Allison found out her family line can be traced back to an enslaved person named Quasheba, this track—as well as the LP itself—sheds light on African-American women’s stories of struggle, resistance, and hope, and confronts the sanitised and perfumed views about America’s history (and continued structural support) of slavery, racism and misogyny. “
Keyvan Chemirani & Pandit Anindo Chatterjee – Bhairavi
Sanjay: ” Paris-based Keyvan Chemirani is known for his mastery of the traditional Persian hand drum zarb or tombac, and Anindo Chatterjee likewise for the South Asian tabla. On their album, Battements au coeur de l’Orient, the two virtuoso musicians—alongside Ken Zuckerman on sarod, Sokratis Sinopoulos on kementché and laouto, Bijan Chemirani on zarb and saz, Stelios Petrakis on lyra and Henri Tournier on bansuri—alternate compositions and adaptations of poems sung by Maryam Chemirani. “
That’s it for this morning. As always thanks so much for listening. Much respect to Julia Biel for her Sunday selections today, and to Anaïs Marthe Caura for this episode’s cool illustration.
