Video of the Day: Nishla Smith shares ‘Friends with Monsters’

Singer Nishla Smith creates vivid, enigmatic stories through sound, her voice stretching from melancholic sweetness through to dark intimacy. Her debut album Friends with Monsters showcases her vocal talents and her affinity for inventive narratives extended over the span of a full album. The Australian performer travelled via Berlin to eventually settle in Manchester and is joined here by some of the city’s most talented improvisers. Richard Jones and Johnny Hunter cover piano and drums respectively, whilst bassist Joshua Cavanagh-Brierley and trumpeter Aaron Wood add graceful touches to complete the quintet’s intimate feel. Smith’s depictions of night-time have an enigmatic quality, inviting listeners on an atmospheric journey but all the while pointing to something greater.

Smith’s work explores multiple genres, and she’s already received commissions from Manchester Collective and Opera North, as well as Manchester Jazz Festival and Jazz North. As co-creator of theatre company Ulita, she also creates collaborative pieces that blend theatre, music and visual arts, and ‘Friends with Monsters’ continues that theatrical strand to her work – “I'm a very natural storyteller, I just love to tell stories. I find myself weaving everyday events into tales that are very narratively pleasing.”

Nishla Smith heads out on a UK tour this month, dates are: The Blue Lamp, Aberdeen (14 Oct), Scarborough Jazz (27 Oct), Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club, London (1 Nov), Bobiks, Newcastle (4 Nov), NQ Jazz at The Yard, Manchester + art exhibitions (8 Nov), Jazz Leeds (14 Nov), The Spotted Dog, Birmingham (23 Nov) and The Vortex, London (2 Dec).

See the video below and for more info visit www.nishlasmith.com/friendswithmonsters