Nightmares on Wax is set to release his album Shout Out! To Freedom on 29th October and so far, things are looking very positive for the artists ninth work. Nightmares on Wax, aka George Evelyn, has revealed an impressive list of collaborative forces: Greentea Peng, OSHUN, Shabaka Hutchings, Halle Supreme, Pip Millett and more.
He first issued the double A side first single Own Me, and a second track has just dropped. Excitingly, it’s a collaboration called Breathe In with the fabulous New York duo OSHUN.
Breathe In, with its slinky, psychedelic groove and OSHUN’s sensual, deep and raw vocals, pulls you into the track’s core. There’s a trip-hoppy, 90s vibe going on here. It feels infused with positivity, like someone put a sunshiney yellow filter over the track. The New York duo OSHUN channel ‘ancestral magic’, and their name is taken from the West-African mythological deity of ‘fresh water, pleasure, sexuality, fertility, beauty and love’. They have a playful urban/nature balance thing going on and this record is a gorgeous expression of this.
About the upcoming album, Evelyn feels he may have only just truly stepped into his own groove. As for so many folks, lockdown forced a change of pace and offered some time for meaningful reflection and introspection. “I’ve been gigging non-stop for 10 years,” he says. “And that experience has been beautiful but it also drained me emotionally.”
Evelyn already had the wheels in motion for making a collaborative album with a variety of guests. “The world had stopped and I’d slowed down but time speeded up,” he reflects.
He “formed creative bonds with new and upcoming talent that slotted in nicely with both the history and evolution of N.O.W.” The album glides between slick electronica, smooth jazz, deft hip-hop, and that distinct middle ground that epitomes the essence of N.O.W.
“I think it’s the story of the human spirit,” he says.
N.O.W photo: Viktor Sloth
Nightmares on Wax Shout Out! To Freedom out October 29 on Warp Records