Scrimshire - Nothing Feels Like Everything (2021)

So many of us head back out into the world post-lockdown, with a different perspective on the overpowering nature of it.

Nothing Feels Like Everything, looks deeply at how the absence of something can be just as overwhelming, whether the absence of physical contact, the absence of love, the absence of empathy and respect.

This album uses gentleness beside power and cacophony to recreate the vast swings of emotion experienced in isolation. When nothing can be too much, while at the same time, all we want.

The sixth studio album from Scrimshire is an atmospheric and emotional experience. Moments of swirling orchestral energy perfectly countered by quiet, meditative calm.

With only four vocal contributions on this record, it is his most instrumental exploration to date, with moving string arrangements alongside delicate synthesiser soaked rhythms. And those few vocal contributions are captivating. From the opening explosion of UK jazz and soul legend Cleveland Watkiss, with a powerfully clear call on behalf of the marginalised and oppressed in society to the deeply intimate and supportive incantations of Ursula Rucker. No word is wasted here.

The record still carries on a tradition of collaboration on Scrimshire albums with contributions from Jessica Lauren, Idris Rahman (Soothsayers, Wildflower, Ill Considered), Nat Birchall, Huw Marc Bennett, Miryam Solomon, Emanative and recent Albert's Favourites signing Pie Eye Collective.

"Throughout lockdown I've been writing so much, and when I released Believers Vol. 1 back in November, I'd wanted to bring people something that captured the warmth and hopefulness I think we needed in spite of deep political and cultural turmoil. But there were obviously very low moments, socially and personally and I was capturing those too. This album holds more of those times of loss and being lost, of solitary contemplation and meditation, of yearning, of anxiety. More than I've experienced before, the collaborations came through long and beautiful phone conversations, developing friendships with new people, rekindling and supporting older relationships, taking time and giving each other time, care and space to create. It's what makes this album special to me."