More about: nudista

The EP formula is extremely difficult to perfect. Cramming the heart and lifeblood of years of hard work into just a handful of tracks sounds near impossible, right? So you can imagine my shock when British-Spanish folk duo nudista managed to create a near-perfect introduction to their hazy sound in just four beautiful tracks. Halfway Here is new folk, and I was ready for it.

Floating drowsily between needed moments of intimate reassurance, stifled anxiety, and the acceptance that some things are perhaps destined to remain mundane, nudista move past traditional chords and rhythm. Instead, they deliver their music straight into the depths of your soul, where it’s forever destined to stay.

‘Confess’ bridges the gap between folk and bluegrass. A guitar flickers and twangs, whilst keys slowly emerge, letting themselves be known as lead vocalist Pilar softly sings: “I must confess that I don’t know the rules.” The rules in question being life's mystery guidelines, what to do when it all seems a bit too much and an overbearing sense of loneliness oozes its way into your being. But the dimness of this situation is subverted by nudista. Morbidity is never allowed to take control. Instead, ‘confess’ acts as a helpful reminder that nobody has a clue what’s really going on. Reassuring, cheers guys.

‘Inasmuch’ is togetherness. A chorus letting you know that “it’s alright”. And after listening to this track more times than I'd like to admit, I'm fairly convinced everything is alright, and it might always be this way...touch wood. Imagery is rife within nudistas music and ‘inasmuch’ conjures visions of a solitary campfire. There’s no one around it, but the remnants of those there before echo with every spark. Love, peace, longing, and acceptance dance around flecks of orange, casting shadows of those long gone but never forgotten. Who these beings are is up to you—but there’s peace to be found within the pleasure ‘inasmuch’ emits.

‘Morning’ brings Halfway Here to a close. A track born from the band's duality, both Pilar and Robbie are able to imbue their own unique experiences deep within the tracks delicate inner-workings. As their vocals cross over one and other, instruments swirl and evaporate in a tender cycle that eventually crescendos into a billowing soundscape that leaves ripples of bittersweet joy ebbing softly from ear to ear.

Nudista are special. There’s no doubt about it. Their uncanny ability to weave peace into even the most dissonant of scenarios ushers in a gentle joy in knowing that perhaps there is some form of beauty in almost everything—or at least there is in when nudista are involved. If you need me I'll be swaying to this EP for the foreseeable, cheers nudista.

Halfway Here arrives 1 April via Sad Club Records.

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More about: nudista