Minneapolis-based experimental R&B vocalist and songwriter Velvet Negroni today shares ‘CONFETTI’. The single is the first to be taken from his forthcoming debut album NEON BROWN out August 30th on 4AD / Rhythmethod.
Velvet Negroni is the alter-ego of creative polymath Jeremy Nutzman. Raised in an outer suburb of the Twin Cities, Jeremy – a black kid adopted into a white evangelical Christian family – split his formative years between classical piano lessons and late night jam sessions. A duality that permeates every corner of his music, with forthcoming album NEON BROWN thriving in the borderlands between indie rock and R&B. Since touring with close friend Bon Iver, Nutzman notched writing credits for Kanye West and Kid Cudi ahead of his debut single releases on NYC label b4 in 2018. Now, alongside prolific co-producer Psymun (Young Thug, Juice WLRD, The Weeknd), Nutzman’s new releases transcend the borders between his often polarised influences, bringing R&B slow jams and nods to hometown hero Prince with guitar licks and full band energy.
With ‘CONFETTI’, Nutzman’s first reveal from the album is a reflective, slow-burning R&B track, pairing warm ambient synths with downtempo percussion and haunting vocal performance. Launching today alongside visuals directed by Isaac Gale & Velvet Negroni.
On NEON BROWN, Velvet Negroni is a griot relaying the life and times of his own island—it’s a singular place, with the squeak and thrum of guitar strings looped over drum machine beats accented by steely marimbas, all creating a pocket for one of the most authentic and original artistic voices ever committed to tape.
You follow his voice as it rhymes in double time, or hiccups and la-las through a break, or croons from a room down the hall, as it unfolds into another story of lost love, or another joke about lost drugs,as he tries to make sense of a life spent in the (sometimes harrowing) pursuit of communion.
Turns out what sounds like a lonely island is in fact the city of Minneapolis. His fundamentalist missionary of a mother drove him to virtuosity, both as a classically trained concert pianist and a competitive figure skater, but he had to climb out his bedroom window to play guitar in his first band.
In 2016 after years of performing under a schizophrenic rotation of various aliases, Nutzman finally landed on a persona that he felt he could be proud of. It was in a fancy cocktail bar in Austin, Texas that he hatched Velvet Negroni. A tour opening for Bon Iver followed, as well as a writing credit on Kid Cudi and Kanye West’s ‘Feel the Love‘ off their 2018 album Kids See Ghosts. That same year, he released his first singles on b4, ‘First Time‘ and ‘Crybaby‘. It was in the summer of 2018, together with his friends, producers Psymun and Tickle Torture, that Velvet Negroni composed the stories on NEON BROWN, stories he’s been waiting a lifetime to tell.
NEON BROWN Tracklisting:
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ONE ONE
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WINE GREEN
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KURT KOBAIN
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POSTER CHILD
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CONFETTI
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U.DUNNO
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CHOIR BOY
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SCRATCHERS
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NESTER
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FEEL LET
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ECTODUB
