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Feb 10, 2025 Web Exclusive By Mark Moody

If it’s all about the journey, New Zealand native Nadia Reid has had her share of them. Slipping in and out of Richmond, Virginia to make 2020’s Out of My Province before returning to one of the strictest peacetime border lockdowns, Reid has now relocated to the UK, but not before recording her scintillating fourth album, Enter Now Brightness. Primarily folk-tinged, Reid’s honeyed vocals are a generational gift—not unlike Eva Cassidy’s before her or Jenn Wasner’s as her contemporary.

Aside from the command of her voice, Reid can also pen lyrics with a piercing truth. The album’s towering centerpiece is also one of its most simply spun. “Even Now” provides a series of velvet gloved punches —“to suffer and not change,” “distance is required, distance is desired”—to which even Reid can only warmly hum an affirmation in reflection. The more brightly hued “Woman Apart” is equally stunning in its celebration of a confident independence. While the pillared horn notes of “Baby Bright” recall Bon Iver’s 22, A Million in the way that Reid’s vocals are buoyed along.

Undoubtedly, Reid is able to handle the quicker pace of “Changed Unchained” and “Hotel Santa Cruz,” but those songs’ rhythms feel somewhat out of place alongside the more meditative moments Enter Now Brightness has on offer. The depth of complex emotion that Reid conveys on the album’s bookends, “Emmanuelle” and “Send It Down the Line,” are served well by their stripped down surroundings. Regardless of the approach, Enter Now Brightness, reminds us over and over that home is wherever Reid’s heart is. (www.nadiareid.com)

Author rating: 7.5/10