Dua Saleh - three songs at The Current (2019)

Опубликовано 14 апреля 2021, 2:00

Dua Saleh is our featured artist for April 13 as part of Minnesota Music Month. Here are three performances recorded by Saleh for The Local Show in February of 2019.

Saleh released their EP Nūr on Jan. 3, 2019, and its five songs total more than a sum of their parts. As Saleh told Local Show host Andrea Swensson, the poetic lyrics are a direct result of Qur'an study and Thursday nights spent at the TruArtSpeaks open mic at Golden Thyme in St. Paul. The music stems from an online connection with St. Paul-based producer Psymun (thest4ndard, the Weeknd).

Psymun's not the only one in Saleh's unit of dedicated Twin Cities musicians. Fellow thest4ndard member Corbin contributed background vocals to "Warm Pants," SinGrinch co-produced that same lead single, and Velvet Negroni contributed a lovely guest verse to "Survival." Producer/engineer Mike Frey mixed "Kickflip" and "Sugar Mama" and supported Saleh at The Current on beats and electric guitar.

In short order, Saleh has become one of the most in-demand voices in Minneapolis, admired by online fans, critics, and fellow musicians alike. In January 2019, Pitchfork published a favorable review of Nūr, which Saleh said meant a lot. "They could've featured any other artist, and the fact that they took time to even think about us —" Saleh said at the time, shaking their head. "We weren't even notified about it beforehand. [Writer] Paul [Thompson] just posted it, and I was like, 'Oh my God.'"

SONGS PERFORMED
0:00 "Warm Pants"
5:05 "Kickflip"
8:12 "Sugar Mama"

PERSONNEL
Dua Saleh – vocals
Mike Frey – keys, guitar, beats

CREDITS
Video & Photo: Nate Ryan, Minju Kim
Audio: John Miller
Production: Jesse Wiza

FIND MORE:
2017 "You Need to Know" profile: blog.thecurrent.org/2017/07/yo...
2018 interview: blog.thecurrent.org/2019/01/in...
2019 studio session:
thecurrent.org/feature/2019/02...
2020 feature article about Saleh on "Sex Education": blog.thecurrent.org/2020/10/du...
2020 interview: blog.thecurrent.org/2020/06/du...

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