By complete surprise, I got an email from an upcoming Parisian nu soul artist called Osmojam this weekend. Safe to say there's been few releases that have blown me away in quite the same way.
Osmojam is the beautiful Nadia Henry, who is currently working as a Commercial Manager in a French energy utility, but just happens to moonlight as one of the finest soul voices I've heard in a very long time. With her influences including names such as Kurt Elling, Omar and Jamie Cullum, Nadia has been practicing music from the tender age of just 5, becoming a long-term violinist before turning her hand to singing in a gospel choir alongside her studies.
On this insanely free release, Nadia has turned her hand to reworking some classic 80s numbers from Wham!, Madonna, Janet Jackson and Phil Collins (three of my favourite artists of all time, so I'll admit I was skeptical at first).
It's always incredibly difficult to add something to tracks that are so embedded in popular culture, but Osmojam strips everything right back to basics to let her incredibly captivating and powerful verse come right to the forefront to reinvent each record effortlessly. Intricate acoustic guitar and slick rhodes lines provide the perfect backing, as supplied by Fabien Coronada and Kelyan Horth. Expect big things from this girl in coming months.
Watch out for new album 'Echappée' due to drop exclusively on BamaLoveSoul very soon.
