Following the release of her first earth-quaking single in 4 years at the beginning of
August, counter-culture pop icon Neneh Cherry shares a new song Shot Gun Shack,
produced by Four Tet. Neneh also reveals the name and track list of her fifth solo
album Broken Politics, which was produced in its entirety by Four Tet.
Neneh’s new record pointedly asks the question; how do we conduct ourselves in
extraordinary times? In an era where the signal-to-noise ratio is more uneven than
ever, what are the measures we must take to retain and remember our own
personhood? It searches for answers, patiently and with great care, and with a
fearlessness to acknowledge that sometimes the answers don't even exist. It’s a
record that’s equal parts angry, thoughtful, melancholy, and emboldening, as Cherry
and her collaborators continue to expand her ever-widening sonic palette to craft
truly singular and potent music.
Work on Broken Politics began as touring wound down behind Cherry's previous
full-length, 2014's Blank Project, and she felt a drive to continue creating after
collaborating on that record with Kieran Hebden (Four Tet). "That last album was
much angrier and forceful, whereas this one is quieter and more reflective," she
states. "I haven't always been so good at getting things out so quickly, and it still
took a while—but that's okay."
Cherry, writing partner Cameron McVey, and Hebden decamped to Woodstock,
New York for a week-long recording session at the Creative Music Studio, a
recording space founded by jazz pianist Karl Berger—who, in a stroke of providence,
was a band member of Neneh's stepfather and Don Cherry as well as being friends
with her mother Moki. "Being in a studio with them was like being in a familiar space.
It was easy to reach into myself for the feelings I needed to be in tune with a song—
and at night, Cameron and I would have dinner with Ingrid and Karl and they'd tell
stories about my father. There were deep threads."
