Maggie Nicols

• BLACK VINYL LP

A renowned improvisor of over half a century on the circuit, Nicols brings an extensive legacy of work spanning recordings with Julie Tippets, Phil Minton and Robert Wyatt (in Keith Tippett’s 50-piece Centipede), to many years as an ardent feminist, and work for TV and stage, to her definitive first solo recordings.

‘Are You Ready?’ is a perfectly open-ended, rhetorical question of an album that binds the strands of her music into a persistently surprising and immersive listen. At less than 100 minutes long, it’s also unusually for a solo vocalist recording, recalling on some levels the dramatic depths of Scott Walker’s latter recordings, or the impressionist modal jazz piano backdrops to Emahoy Tsegué-Mariam Guèbru, and the freely associated folk styles of Ghédalia Tazartès.

Taking the opportunity of recording at a shuttered Cafe Oto during lockdown, Nicols really got down to what makes her tick on this record, forging an ideal - if a long time-coming - introduction to her most personalised, enchanting soundworld.

Recorded at Cafe OTO on July 15th, 16th and 17th 2021

TRACKS:

• SIDE A
• A1. Donnie and Zouïna
• A2. Are You Ready / Sans-Papiers
• A3. Steady Eddie and the Firefly
• A4. Like the Lotus

• SIDE B
• B1. La Vie S’en Va (Life Is Fleeting)