Nadeem Din-Gabisi unveils his debut solo single and video Shallow

British/Sierra-Leonean artist, poet, rapper and polymath, Nadeem Din-Gabisi today presents his debut solo offering, Shallow, which is taken from of his forthcoming album POOL set for release in 2022.

Alongside the single, Nadeem also presents a video for Shallow directed by Mattias Petterson. In which Nadeem explores a stream of consciousness as he wanders through Peckham’s Rye Lane, questioning what inner city living has brought to the African & Caribbean communities that find themselves in but not necessarily of the metropolis.

“It’s a musing musical dirge, an inner dialogue, commenting on what I’ve experienced, seen and lived through by proxy on many high streets in London, such as Rye Lane, Croydon, Dalston and Brixton. It looks at how African & Caribbean communities realities can be shaped by the enclosed nature of an inner city, commenting on the prevalence of a variety of colonial shaping factors, including but not limited to; Christianity, code switching, colourism, skin bleaching, crime, music, youthful insecurity, body modification, pornography and violence.” – Nadeem Din-Gabisi

Croydon based Nadeem Din-Gabisi’s previous musical explorations have involved touring with jazz-collective Steam Down and featuring on Sampa The Great’s 2018 track ‘Energy’. During the last 12 months, Nadeem was also awarded the The Fred Perry X Nicholas Daley Grant, which was judged by a panel including Nubya Garcia, Bradley Zero, Gilles Peterson and Nilüfer Yanya.

“The video for Shallow is a collaboration between myself and Director Mattias Petterson following the quasi protagonist of ‘POOL’, clad in orange swimwear/lifeguard costume traversing the city of London at night simultaneously trying to save and be saved.” – Nadeem Din-Gabisi

The concept for his debut album was spawned during an artist residency he was also awarded at Somerset House where, spending days on the Thames embankment in the heart of the capital he immersed himself in considering: How do we maintain ourselves in spite of all the external factors? In spite of this water that is hitting us, how do we swim and surf and ride the wave of existence?

POOL is a work that examines moments of trauma and happiness in his childhood. It uses those moments as a diving board to explore mental health issues and coping mechanisms of many young black men born in inner and outer London. The project questions and attempts to answer why some of these men swim, why some sink and why some others don’t enter the POOL.

Nadeem draws on the influence of a potent collaboration between himself and fellow musicians Coby Sey and Momoko Gill on POOL. With the waters they navigate expertly helmed by producer Beni Giles (Lianne La Havas, Oscar Jerome, Kawala). The musicians involved behold credits that span an astute list; beat maker and composer Coby Sey toured with Tirzah and collaborated with Mount Kimbie, whereas multi-instrumentalist Momoko Gill is a 2020 Brownwood Bubbler with her project An Alien Called Harmony.

Nadeem and his band perform the POOL project in full at Camden Art Centre on Sunday 12th December.