NADIA KAZMI – ‘GOLD INTO DUST’
A Spill Exclusive Album Premiere
I think the songs have the feel and sound that I was aiming for. I love songs, the crux of them, the kind that are timeless in some way. There’s definitely a vintage rock sound but I think there’s plenty of the now in the production as well. Like a cat has a real combination of vintage sound and anthemic modernity in the chorus. Those were the songs I grew up listening to. There are great songs that I love that are more about the production or the band but they can’t really be covered by other artists because the song itself is the production or some other element. That’s not what I desire as a songwriter. There are different moods throughout the album from serious to fun but the lyrics maintain a message. I’m always trying to capture something new or unsaid about whatever I’m expressing and I like using metaphors that can be interpreted differently depending on who is listening. The song that’s most literal is Kleptomania because I think it’s obviously political but even with that song, people have said they were uncertain what the subject matter was. I wanted to give the song a fun feel to juxtapose the subject matter. The best songwriters that I love most always did this well, like Stevie, Lennon, Bowie. Like a Cat was written on piano and has a bit of a different feel to it for that reason, I was in a sad place when I wrote it but I still wanted the chorus to feel uplifting because of it’s sound even though the lyrics are a bit dour. Cloak is a song about those who love falling in love and the object of their affection is obliterated by the desire for affection itself. People strike me as simply going through the motions of love without reflection on why or whether it is love or fear of being alone. They Want My Soul is kind of anthemic; I wrote it when I was feeling the tide was against young people with the middle class dwindling and the difficulty in owning your own home with rising costs of housing without proportionate rises in income. I want the ‘they’ to be vague so it could be interpreted in many ways. We all feel like as we get older we change and some of that idealism lost feels like our soul is being siphoned (or maybe that’s just me). Suzanne is about a woman going through some kind of ordeal and coming out the other side, changed but strong for her daughter.
This album is a product of two years of writing and living in New York and Calgary, it’s the culmination of many realizations, that life is never what you think it will turn out to be, and that isn’t necessarily bad or good. It’s simply different. Spending many years pursuing music or art is humbling. You may have to change your mind about what it is that dreams are made of which is what the song Gold Into Dust is. That’s why I named the album Gold Into Dust, it fits. New dreams can also be beautiful. When you’re young, you’re overly idealistic, it’s inevitable that that will change. The pressures the world places on you seem inescapable, whether that’s your family, your financial situation or your own expectations and desires. Life as an artist is a strange existence in today’s world and you need to constantly reassess to continue in a world where (as my mother says) “the odds are stacked against you.” I’m lucky, we’re all lucky living in North America, that’s why Patriotism seems strange to me or having a lot of pride in your appearance or your intelligence. Those things are yours by chance, be thankful. But even here, things are changing quickly. I can’t just write love songs, there are thousands of people who do and more power to them. I write about the things that I hope will shed some light on what is affecting us as a people. Sometimes that’s a love song but mostly it isn’t. Love is paramount in life but for me, it’s a love for humanity.
Artist Quote
This is an album I’m very happy with and captures the sound that I was feeling at the time I made the record. Lamb is a song about the false people in the world who come up smelling like roses because they’re so adept at spin, making the innocent seem guilty. Whether that be in the media with public scapegoats or simply within a community or family.
Nadia Kazmi
Gold Into Dust
(Twin Sun Records)
Release Date: May 12, 2017
Artist Links
SPILL MUSIC PREMIERE: FRANK VIELE – “PUTTING OUT FIRES”/”THE TROUBLE WITH DESIRE”
SPILL MUSIC PREMIERE: ELENA ERIN – “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE?”
SPILL MUSIC PREMIERE: OCCURRENCE – “FEEDING TIME”
SPILL MUSIC PREMIERE: BUTCH BASTARD – “IF IT WASN’T FOR THE UFOs”
