After casting off her previous moniker of Throwing Shade, producer Nabihah Iqbal is gearing up to releasing her debut album ‘Weighing of the Heart’. The change in name means that she’s standing proud as a female British Asian artist, but it’s also allowed her to move out of the shadows and into more expansive musical territory.
Nothing quite sums that shift up more than her latest two tracks, ‘Eternal Passion’ and ‘Zone 1 To 6000’. Both inspired by poetry (particularly William Blake and Matthew Arnold), they centre on navigating the city, figuring out a pathway and ask existential questions about why people want to live. They also show off two sides of Nabihah’s musical coin.
While ‘Eternal Passion’ is driven by fuzzy, almost post-punk guitars that cut across the more airy, swirling synth melodies and her own hazy vocals, ‘Zone 1 To 6000’ features driving, clashing drums that help propel Nabihah’s spoken word lyrics in heart-racing fashion. Across both tracks, Nabihah manages to get the perfect balance between differing styles effortlessly.
By Eugenie Johnson.
