NYC Scene Report – Blums, Nara’s Room, & sadie

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Blums “Sinking/Soaring,” Nara’s Room reminiscing about “Lizzie mcguire,” and sadie seeking out “Better Angels.”

* I can’t remember the last time I was as blown away by a voice, and a vibe, the way I was hearing Blums’ recently released debut single, “Sinking/Soaring.”

A gorgeous number that is as jazzy as it is grandiose, the song comes with the announcement that Blums – the project of Kelsea Feder, who is a veteran of a number of NYC bands – has signed to Brooklyn-based indie label Take Care Records.

Feder says of “Sinking/Soaring,” “The song comes from a place of being trapped in the head, self-obsessed, miserable, tormented by loneliness, and disgusted because I was aware my problems are so small compared to the world at large. I wrote this in 2019. The previous year I was working as a hostess at a jazz club so I feel like I had a lot of that in my head, or at least the image of ‘jazz singer.’”

Forget the sinking, Feder is about to be soaring, and I want to be in the front row if Blums has any shows in the city this summer.

* Everyone loves a little nostalgia, and Brooklyn-based foursome Nara’s Room were having some early aughts thoughts that led to the writing of their latest single, “Lizzie mcguire.”

The band’s frontperson, Nara Avakian, explained the trip back to the recent past in a statement, saying, “I grew up thinking that my world of Lizzie McGuire, Michelle Branch, and frosted eye shadow would be that way forever, and I couldn’t wait to be an adult in that world, but then everything changed.”

No one really warns us about everything being an adult entails, and it sure is a lot, so click play on “Lizzie mcguire,” and spend a few minutes with Nara’s Room, imagining you have no responsibilities.

* Brooklyn-based producer and songwriter sadie will be releasing her debut album, titled Better Angels, on May 8th via bloody knuckles, and on the title track she’s looking for a little hope.

Discussing the song in a statement, sadie said, “I wrote it while I was experiencing a growing chasm between myself and someone I loved, and grappling with the realization that they had changed beyond recognition. It was also a time where I was feeling despair at the state of the world, and our increasing isolation from one another.”

She continued, adding, “Modern technology is a digital prison that removes us from the world, but sometimes I think it has the wonderful ability to create community, and make you feel connected to people in far away places, so I loved the idea of the music video being a collage of internet clips … it feels both dystopian, strange, and beautiful all at once. Better Angels felt like a fitting album title. I think it asks us to consider hope – within ourselves, and in each other.”

Having hope has always sounded like a good idea to me, and “Better Angels” sounds good, too.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.