‘Naive’: Naomi in Blue releases lead single ahead of her incredible upcoming album, ‘Is This Body Mine?’
Having worked in the music industry for almost 15 years now, first as a playlist curator, then later on in sync and licensing and now here at Far Out, I’ve listened to an awful lot of music during my professional life.
One of the more unfortunate skills I’ve picked up in that time, as a result of needing to be able to sift through as many tracks as possible in the shortest time, always with a deadline looming large on the horizon, is to be able to judge and assess the quality of any given track lightning-fast. Often, a piece of music will only have between five and ten seconds to grab my attention before I click through to the next track, always in search of a song that more perfectly suits a client’s needs and wants.
It’s not often, anymore, that I get to hear a piece of music that stops me dead in my tracks and makes me stop whatever else it is that I’m doing; whatever else it is that I’m supposed to be doing. But it did happen recently when I listened to the new single, and subsequently the new album, from breakthrough British-Chilean artist Naomi in Blue.
The first time I heard her powerful and mighty voice, somehow simultaneously celestial and of the Earth, I was almost jolted out of all time completely. It felt like one of those moments that you’ll remember clearly forever. “That’s when I first listened to Naomi in Blue’s Is This Body Mine?”. I haven’t been able to stop listening since.
As I listened to her album once, twice, three and maybe even four times in a row, I realised I was experiencing an album for the first time that I was going to be coming back to again and again for the rest of my life. It was a powerful experience to have with a new piece of music, one I hadn’t had maybe since I first listened to Fiona Apple’s When the Pawn… in 2023, or Dylan’s Rough and Rowdy Ways when it leaked in low quality a few days before its true 2020 release, or even back as far 2018 with Courtney Barnett’s second album Tell Me How You Really Feel, and one that I’ve been incredibly grateful for having ever since.
Naomi in Blue’s full-length debut, Is This Body Mine?, will be with us officially in October, and I’ll be back nearer the time to tell you why it’s the best new record that I’ve heard all year, and why it’s the best debut album I’ve heard in even longer than that, but until then, you can listen to the lead single ‘Naive’, out July 24th, which is both indicative of the supreme quality of the wider album, but also doesn’t fully reveal the myriad brilliant directions that the rest of the songs on the record take.
Opening with an assured but understated rhythm section of Naomi in Blue’s own acoustic guitar and a warm, soothing and yet propulsive bass-line by Cuco Errazuriz, as well as the ever-excellent drum-work from Italo Aruz, the song sounds early on like it might have been recorded somewhere in Laurel Canyon in the hazy 1970s, rather than where it was really recorded (Wiltshire, England, in 2025).
By the time that Naomi in Blue starts singing with that mystical voice, she’s supported with gorgeous (though, again, understated and tasteful) guitar fills and frills from Annie Needham, who has struck on both a perfect guitar tone on the song, as well as playing the perfect notes right where and when they’re needed.
Some singers have got a voice so strong that it conceals any shortcoming in their lyrics, while some writers have got such a way with words that you couldn’t care less how they sound, but Naomi in Blue has been blessed with both a beguiling voice and brilliant, expressive and deft mastery of language, too. It’s almost unfair that one person should get to be just so talented (and to then also find themselves surrounded by such similarly talented personnel, too!).
It’s no surprise, then, when you find out that Naomi Larsson-Piñeda, Naomi in Blue to me and you, has won awards for her words before. Slightly more surprising, though, is that those awards and the recognition have not yet come for her song-writing, but instead for her journalism, where she has covered human-rights and social justice stories for The Guardian, The Independent, Al Jazeera, NPR, Wired and more. For this work, she was listed on the Forbes ’30 under 30′ Europe list in 2020, and was also shortlisted for an Amnesty Media Award by Amnesty International, relating to her reporting of the Chilean social uprising.
Listen to her song ‘Naive’ now, and later on, listen to her album Is This Body Mine?, and you’ll probably feel, like I do, that it won’t be long until she is enjoying similar kinds of recognition and acknowledgement for her music, as well.
Listen to that sumptuous opening rhythm section, those evocative, provocative and expressive lyrics, and the haunting power of her voice. Listen to those beautiful backing vocal harmonies in the chorus, and listen to the way the song ebbs and flows. Pay close attention to the extraordinary ending crescendo, and you’ll even hear traces of a musical saw, supplied by Laura Tenschert (whose radio show and podcast Definitely Dylan is a must-listen if you have even the slightest passing interest in Dylan).
It all comes together to create a piece of music that both brings you the comfort of feeling like you’ve heard this kind of thing before, and also the thrill of hearing it all in a completely new, original and unique way. And there are times when you’re listening that you’ll maybe remember Nico, Adrienne Lenker, Richard Thompson or Mama Cass Elliot, but here’s the best thing about it: No matter who you are put in mind of when you’re listening, you’d always rather be listening to Naomi in Blue, instead.
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