Nadia Reid - Out of My Province

The Guardian 60

(Spacebomb)

Singer-songwriter Nadia Reid is one of New Zealand’s best-kept secrets. Based in Richmond, Virginia, Spacebomb Studios, her current label, specialise in surrounding singers in luminous washes of southern country-soul – past recipients include Natalie Prass and label founder Matthew E White. Reid’s previous two outings have foregrounded her guitar and dulcet voice, often against a quiet band backdrop; she is not the sort of artist who requires gussying up. But the combination here – of Reid’s most mellifluous songs to date, with the softly-softly arrangements of producer Trey Pollard – make for an effortless simpatico.

As the album’s title suggests, the musician’s roving lifestyle provides these 10 songs with a theme. The ebb and flow of love and personal change are insistent thrums. On Oh Canada, Reid wonders: “Do you have a friend in New York? Is she fighting for your art?” The standout Best Thing finds her in Italy, getting high, reflecting on an old relationship. These arrangements are never overloaded, the brass remains stately and discreet. If Reid never quite poleaxes you with her insights, this remains a thoroughly lovely record.