nell smith

Happy Release Day To Nell & The Flaming Lips

Posted on by danielle

With the physical release of Nell & The Flaming Lips’ Where the Viaduct Looms out today, they have shared a video for ‘We Know Who You Are’. Shot in the Tennessee caverns and co-directed by Wayne Coyne and Blake Studdard of Atria Creative, you can watch the video below…

Originally released digitally in December 2021, Where the Viaduct Looms comprises nine Nick Cave cover versions with vocals and instrumentation by Nell Smith and instrumentation and production by The Flaming Lips. The album was mastered by Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios. Nell & The Flaming Lips have previously shared videos for ‘Into My Arms’, ‘Girl In Amber’, ‘The Ship Song’, ‘No More Shall We Part’ and ‘Red Right Hand’.

“US teen Nell Smith’s glassy sweetness is a great fit for the Lips on a Nick Cave covers LP. The more gothic the song (Girl In Amber, Red Right Hand) the better the interpretation.” MOJO

“This sweetly bizarre experiment pays off… Drenched in electronic buzz and psychedelic fuzz, these shimmery reworkings of Cave classics are pleasingly free of both solemn reverence and ironic kitsch.” Uncut

“Cave’s glowering menace acquires a new, lighter prettiness when his apocalyptic words are delivered in Nell’s high, youthful voice, drenched in echo and backed by the Lips’ familiar woozy electronic rock.” Evening Standard

“A soothing Bad Seeds tribute… The Lips apply their trademark psychedelic tinges to Cave’s odes… Nell Smith sounds wise beyond her years, and remarkably undaunted by having to sing one luminary’s songs with a group of others.” Record Collector

age of 12 at The Flaming Lips’ headline show at the Sled Island Festival, Calgary, in 2018 with her family. Nell had already attended several Lips shows and was a regular at the front of the stage, dressed in a parrot costume and screaming out the band’s songs. Coyne soon began to notice the kid in the parrot suit and sang a David Bowie cover directly to her at the show in Calgary, with Nell singing every word back.

A musical bond formed with Coyne staying in contact with Nell and her father Jude as she learned to play guitar, while their creative relationship began to flourish when she started to write her own songs.

When a planned trip to record with the band in Oklahoma had to be cancelled due to covid Coyne suggested Nell record some Nick Cave songs and email them to Oklahoma to be backed by the band. Coyne chose Nick Cave because Nell didn’t know him and wouldn’t have preconceived notions as to how to sing the songs.

Speaking about the collaboration, Coyne comments: “It’s always great to meet excited, young creative people. With Nell we could see she is on a journey and thought it would be fun to join her for a while and see if we could get things going. It was a great way to connect with her and help harness her cool attitude to making music.”

When asked about the experience, Nell comments: “I still can’t really believe it. It was a really steep learning curve but Wayne was so encouraging when I was struggling with a few of the songs that I kept going. I hadn’t heard of Nick Cave but Wayne suggested that we should start with an album of his cover versions, and then look at recording some of my own songs later. It was cool to listen and learn about Nick Cave and pick the songs we wanted to record.”

Nells goes on to say: “I’m so excited to see this turn into a real record release. I’m super happy to be working with Bella Union and really looking forward to everyone hearing the album.”

In a pleasing addition to the tale the great man himself has given his seal of approval to the collaboration. Alerted to the cover by a fan Nick Cave took to his website The Red Hand Files to write: “This version of ‘Girl in Amber’ is just lovely, I was going to say Nell Smithinhabits the song, but that’s wrong, rather she vacates the song, in a way that I could never do,” said Cave. “I always found it difficult to step away from this particular song and sing it with its necessary remove, just got so twisted up in the words, I guess. Nell shows a remarkable understanding of the song, a sense of dispassion that is both beautiful and chilling. I just love it. I’m a fan.”

Where The Viaduct Looms is out now on Bella Union.

Nell & The Flaming Lips Announce “Where The Viaduct Looms” Vinyl Release

Posted on by danielle

In December 2021 Nell & The Flaming Lips digitally released Where the Viaduct Looms, an album of Nick Cave covers, to much acclaim. A year later the album is at last coming out on vinyl, on 16th December via Bella Union, and is available to preorder here. To accompany the announcement Nell & The Flaming Lips have shared a video for the classic “Into My Arms”, one of the standout tracks on the album. The video was shot late at night in Oklahoma City, driving about in Wayne’s car in the winter of 2022, right after watching a Lips rehearsal and the day before travelling to Nashville for the New Year’s Eve Cavern shows. With videography by Blake Studdard of Atria Creative. 

Where the Viaduct Looms comprises nine Nick Cave cover versions with vocals and instrumentation by Nell Smith and instrumentation and production by The Flaming Lips. The album was mastered by Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios. Nell & The Flaming Lips have previously shared videos for ‘Girl In Amber’, ‘The Ship Song’, ‘No More Shall We Part’ and ‘Red Right Hand’.

Acclaim for Where the Viaduct Looms:

“US teen Nell Smith’s glassy sweetness is a great fit for the Lips on a Nick Cave covers LP. The more gothic the song (Girl In Amber, Red Right Hand) the better the interpretation.” MOJO

“This sweetly bizarre experiment pays off… Drenched in electronic buzz and psychedelic fuzz, these shimmery reworkings of Cave classics are pleasingly free of both solemn reverence and ironic kitsch.” Uncut

“Cave’s glowering menace acquires a new, lighter prettiness when his apocalyptic words are delivered in Nell’s high, youthful voice, drenched in echo and backed by the Lips’ familiar woozy electronic rock.” Evening Standard – 4 stars ****

“A soothing Bad Seeds tribute… The Lips apply their trademark psychedelic tinges to Cave’s odes… Nell Smith sounds wise beyond her years, and remarkably undaunted by having to sing one luminary’s songs with a group of others.” Record Collector

Nell & The Flaming Lips Share “The Weeping Song” Visuals

Posted on by danielle

Nell & The Flaming Lips continue to celebrate the release of their album Where The Viaduct Looms (Nov 2021) with a new video for “The Weeping Song,” which premiered on Rolling Stone. The track is taken from Where the Viaduct Looms, an album comprised of nine Nick Cave cover versions with vocals and instrumentation by 14-year-old Nell Smith and instrumentation and production by The Flaming Lips.

“The Weeping Song” video is a breath-taking cut, shot in the stunning snow-capped mountains of Nell Smith’s home town, Fernie, BC. Nell’s effortless vocals glide atop acoustic guitar contributed by Nev Cottee and is a brilliant rendition of the Nick Cave original.

Says Nell, about the video:“The video for his song needed to show some people going through some stuff, and my part is a girl on a journey kind of observing. It’s maybe a broken family with the dad and son struggling. The mountain top scenes were accessed via snowmobile, deep into avalanche territory. We had to get kitted out with safety gear. It was an adventure!”

This inspiring and heartwarming story began when Nell Smith, originally from Leeds (UK), moved to Canada and first met Wayne Coyne at the age of 12 at The Flaming Lips’ headline show at the Sled Island Festival in Calgary with her family. Nell had already attended several Lips shows and was a regular at the front of the stage, dressed in a parrot costume and screaming out the band’s songs. Coyne soon began to notice the kid in the parrot suit and sang a David Bowie cover directly to her at the show in Calgary, with Nell singing every word back. A musical bond formed as Coyne stayed in contact with Nell and her father, Jude. Nell started to learn guitar and as their creative relationship began to flourish, Nell began to write her own songs. When a planned trip to record with the band in Oklahoma had to be cancelled due to Covid, Coyne suggested Nell record some Nick Cave songs and email them to Oklahoma to be backed by the band. Coyne chose Nick Cave because Nell didn’t know him and wouldn’t have preconceived notions as to how to sing the songs.

In a pleasing addition to the tale, the great man himself has given his seal of approval to the collaboration. Alerted to the cover by a fan, Nick Cave took to his website The Red Hand Files to write: “This version of ‘Girl in Amber’ is just lovely, I was going to say Nell Smith inhabits the song, but that’s wrong, rather she vacates the song, in a way that I could never do,” said Cave. “I always found it difficult to step away from this particular song and sing it with its necessary remove, just got so twisted up in the words, I guess. Nell shows a remarkable understanding of the song, a sense of dispassion that is both beautiful and chilling. I just love it. I’m a fan.”

Speaking about the collaboration, Coyne comments:“It’s always great to meet excited, young creative people. With Nell we could see she is on a journey and thought it would be fun to join her for a while and see if we could get things going. It was a great way to connect with her and help harness her cool attitude to making music.” 

When asked about the experience, Nell comments:“I still can’t really believe it. It was a really steep learning curve but Wayne was so encouraging when I was struggling with a few of the songs that I kept going. I hadn’t heard of Nick Cave but Wayne suggested that we should start with an album of his cover versions, and then look at recording some of my own songs later. It was cool to listen and learn about Nick Cave and pick the songs we wanted to record.” 

Nell & The Flaming Lips Share “Red Right Hand” Performance Video

Posted on by danielle

Today, Nell & The Flaming Lips share a video for “Red Right Hand” from their album of Nick Cave covers, Where the Viaduct Looms, out now via Bella Union. The video features a live performance from Nell and the Lips of which Nell says: “I really loved working on these live videos, shooting this was the first time I had the opportunity to actually play music with the Lips as we recorded the whole album remotely. Performing live gives the whole thing more energy and I can’t wait to do more.”

Where the Viaduct Looms comprises nine Nick Cave cover versions with vocals and instrumentation by 14-year-old Nell Smith and instrumentation and production by The Flaming Lips. The album was mastered by Dave Fridmann at Tarbox Road Studios. Nell and the Lips have previously shared videos for ‘Girl In Amber’, ‘The Ship Song’ and ‘No More Shall We Part’.

Acclaim for Where the Viaduct Looms:

“US teen Nell Smith’s glassy sweetness is a great fit for the Lips on a Nick Cave covers LP. The more gothic the song (Girl In Amber, Red Right Hand) the better the interpretation.” MOJO

“This sweetly bizarre experiment pays off… Drenched in electronic buzz and psychedelic fuzz, these shimmery reworkings of Cave classics are pleasingly free of both solemn reverence and ironic kitsch.” Uncut

“Cave’s glowering menace acquires a new, lighter prettiness when his apocalyptic words are delivered in Nell’s high, youthful voice, drenched in echo and backed by the Lips’ familiar woozy electronic rock.” Evening Standard – 4 stars ****

“Nell’s guileless vocals are the bridge between his dark and deeply felt lyrics and the band’s ornate sounds. Where The Viaduct Looms shares some of Oczy Mlody desolate sweetness, particularly on “The Ship Song”‘s blissful electronic haze. The Lips seize every opportunity to re-create Cave’s songs with adventurous production, transforming the hymn-like “Into My Arms” into a lush track worthy of a futuristic Phil Spector.” All Music – 4 Stars****