An eponymous album is usually a statement of identity, an assertion that the record firmly represents an artist’s vision. That certainly seems to be the case for Austin quintet Nori’s self-titled third LP. Much like the band’s self-proclaimed spirit guide Nina Simone, Nori grounds its aesthetic in a certain genre – in this case jazz – without being definitively of that genre. “Wildfire,” for example, fields an instrumental arrangement somewhere between hard bop swing and smooth soul, as singer Akina Adderley (granddaughter of Nat, grandniece of Cannonball) gives the tune a jazzy lilt that doesn’t affect direct communication. “The Walk” adopts a late-night blues tone without actually being a blues song, while “Waiting to Fall” goes straight for the R&B ballad jugular, letting Adderley soar over keyboardist Nick Litterski’s warm electric piano and Eric Telford’s melodic trumpet. The band also invites a string section to contribute on select songs, from the slinky “Undertow” and last year’s sonorous single “I See You” to the neo-soul “Tumbao” and a chilling remake of the first album’s “The Garden.” The group concludes by paying tribute to Simone with its take on “Four Women.” Rather than expand its parameters, the band hones its style to the sharpest of points. Nori sounds more Nori on Nori than ever before, and if that’s not a justification for a self-title, nothing else is.
This article appears in December 10 • 2021.
