Bella Union has released “Billions of People”, the latest single from Nell Smith’s posthumous debut solo album Anxious due out April 11. The psych-pop single was written in September 2022 with Canadian band Shred Kelly in Fernie BC and reflects on her visit to the UK on tour with The Flaming Lips earlier that year. It was a time of huge excitement and change for Nell as she navigated the exciting opportunities while trying to balance teenage life in a small town and friendships far away.
Shred Kelly shares, “We met every week to work on songwriting together and, if I remember correctly, Nell brought the chorus of “Billions of People” to the session. About 30 minutes in, she got a message from someone who she had a connection with who was leaving town and she said she was going to bike down to the bridge to say goodbye and be back in a few minutes. She wasn’t sure when she’d see them again. That fuelled the inspiration for the verses of the song that we wrote that day, and the rest of the song came together pretty effortlessly.”
Posthumous record releases will always be charged with emotion but when the release comes from a 17 year-old artist that was just getting started it’s heartbreaking beyond expression.Anxious is a mesmerizing selection of songs that explore the highs, lows and uncertainty of teenage life through the eyes of Nell and is the follow-up to Where The Viaduct Looms, her debut collaboration with The Flaming Lips that explored the works of Nick Cave. Guided by the talented Jack and Lily Wolter of Penelope Isles, who helped shape Nell’s songs, some of which had been in the works since she was twelve years old, the result is an album brimming with emotion, playful melodies and a depth that hints at what Nell’s future may have held.
A lot of Nell’s creative drive was rooted in raw teenage emotions; apprehension; love; travel; gratefulness; ambition; and grief. These moods are visited throughout the tracks on the album with an instrumental approach that brings joy into even the darkest of songs. “It is still very painful when I realize Nell is gone”, says Wayne Coyne. “I keep thinking I’ll check my text messages from her. I’m sure she has a new drawing or new piece of a song or a new photo of her cat… and then I remember she is gone. Now when I’m listening to her singing these songs there is a brief fantastical joy. Her voice hits the ear, the ear tells brain this is the sound of love, the brain lets the mind fly through the billions of connections it has with Nell’s life… but as it flies it also flies to her death… there is something holy that happens now.”
The Nell Smith Memorial Fund set up by Nell’s family to honor her legacy and support emerging musicians has already raised $35,000. The fund aims to raise $100,000 and award $10,000 every year for ten years with profits from the release going directly into the fund’s corpus. New to the website are lovingly crafted limited edition Nell & Wayne T-shirts celebrating their creative relationship. To visit Nell’s website click here.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | YouTube | Spotify | Apple Music
