With the release of her first two EPs Run and Waters, the London-based singer/songwriter and guitarist Eliza Shaddad quickly rose to international prominence, receiving praise from a number of major media outlets including The Fader, Nylon, Stereogum, The Line of Best Fit, The Independent, Clash, The 405, as well as airplay from BBC Radio 1, BBC Radio 1Xtra, Beats 1 Radio and countless others for a sound that some have compared to the likes of PJ Harvey, Cat Power and others. I’ve written quite a bit about the acclaimed British singer/songwriter over the past couple of years, and as you may recall Shaddad arguably has one of the more interesting biographies and backstories I’ve come across in some time: she’s the daughter of Sudanese and Scottish parents — and on her mother’s side, she’s the descendant of a long and very proud line of artists and poets that can be traced back to the 1800s; in fact, her great great grandfather James Paterson was a member of the Glasgow Boys, a collective of extremely forward-thinking artist, best known best known for challenging the style and subjects of Victorian Scottish painting. She’s also been a true citizen of the world, with stints living in seven different countries, and as a result she speaks four languages. Along with that she’s earned a Masters in Philosophy and graduated from the Guildhall School with a degree in Jazz. Considering that background, it should be unsurprising that Shaddad’s work centers around constantly shifting and widening perspectives.
Shaddad has developed a reputation for pairing her creative work with significant causes. Along with fellow musician Samantha Lindo, she co-founded Girls Girls Girls, a female arts collective that has worked to empower women within the arts through special cross-disciplinary events across the UK. She has also raised awareness and funding for the anti-female genital mutilation charity Orchid Project. Although she’s been extremely busy, Shaddad’s highly anticipated full-length debut Future is slated for an October 26, 2018 release through Beatnik Creative, and the album finds the acclaimed singer/songwriting continuing her longtime collaboration with Chris Bond.
Now, earlier this summer, I wrote about Future’s second single “My Body,” a moody and hook driven track centered around shoegazer-like atmospherics and dark, seductive trip hop-like groove — and while evoking a plaintive but uncertain need, the song as Shaddad explained in press notes was about ” “Being betrayed by your body. Knowing full well that you need to be alone, but doubting it every night.” Future’s latest single “This Is My Cue” sonically continues in a similar vein as its predecessor — moody and shimmering atmospherics but the major difference is that the song is a candid and ironically rousing breakup song in which the song examines the period of ambivalence and uncertainty in romantic relationships when passion cools to indifference, and throughout the song its narrator is desperately trying to figure out what to do — and to gain the strength to leave.
The recently released video features footage shot by Jodie Canwell, Tom Pollard and Ben Jackson while Shaddad and her were on tour across Europe, and its an intimate view of the artist and her band goofing off, performing in clubs, wandering the streets of European towns that manages to capture the touring life as a blur of joy, awe, boredom and confusion.
