Nenĭa Iră

This eponymous first album by one-woman band Aurélia Nardini draws on Mediterranean modal music, supplemented by her electronic machines, Indian shruti box and a Pyrenean toun-toun string drum she plays with grace. Nardini courageously strips her compositions down, bringing to the fore a powerful vocal range and original poetry, which is both introspective and dreamlike.

The Marseille-based singer of Italian and Pieds-Noirs origin has been experimenting with her voice for years, first with the burlesque-punk duo Siren's Carcass and then with Radio Cargo. Nardini's inspirations are reflected in an intriguing stage name: Nenĭa harks back to the goddesses of Roman antiquity and the healing powers of their songs, and Iră refers to the Stoic philosophy defining and explaining anger. These contradictory currents somehow find harmony in this intimate, introspective and sometimes eerie album. Nardini finds support from talented guest musicians like Vincent Roussel on percussion, Crystal on the modular synthesizer and drums, Saskia Waledisch on the cello, and drummer Blanche Lafuente.