One of London’s finest singer-songwriters, we’ve been big fans of British-Lebanese musician, Nadine Khouri, for some time on this site. Nadine is set to return next month with a brand new EP, A New Dawn, and today ahead of that release, we’re premiering Nadine’s brand new single, To Sleep.

To Sleep is designed as a lullaby, yet perhaps the darkest lullaby you could imagine, set against a back-drop of growing up in a war zone. It finds Nadine and her mother hiding away from the shells dropping around them, learning to draw by candlelight, as Nadine asks, “teach me a lullaby, so I can hum myself to sleep”. There’s a beautifully human connection here between a mother and daughter, set against the inhumane acts that left them, “being unable to sleep at night and being totally terrorised by the sound of shelling”. The track shows art’s ability to provide a lifeline in our darkest hours, something to drag us out of the troubles of reality.

Musically, the track was almost never released, until it, “breathed a new life”, after Nadine played it to two of her collaborators, Basia and Vince. The resultant recording is gentle, with all the wistfulness you’d expect of a lullaby, yet the instrumentation leaves it rich and intriguing. Nadine’s gentle vocal is accompanied by a backing of plucked nylon-string guitars, swells of violin and harmonium, and latterly some perfectly judged piano flourishes.

With a relentless touring schedule, it’s a wonder Nadine has found time to produce such intricate and complex music; proving our point Nadine heads out on a European tour with Low next week, before returning to the UK for headline shows at the end of October.

A New Dawn is out October 26th. Click HERE for more information on Nadine Khouri.

We’ve also got two tickets to give away to any night of Nadine’s upcoming UK tour, as well as signed copy of A New Dawn on Yellow Vinyl – just re-tweet this article on Twitter and tag us in it to enter.

UK Tour Dates:

16.10.18 – Cafe #9, Sheffield

17.10.18 – The Hug & Pint, Glasgow

18.10.18 – Naked Lunch Cafe, Liverpool

19.10.18 – Hoxton Hall, London

20.10.18 – The Louisiana, Bristol

17.01.19 – Folkroom by Sea, Brighton