The East London-based singer, NAO, sprung upon an R&B music scene that needed a female voice to take the reins. Working with a range of flamboyant producers gave her music detailed textures, adding to her palette of soul, jazz and R&B. 2014’s EP, So Good, was the first flavour of what was to come with NAO – ‘Adore You’ even made the final cut on For All We Know. Where NAO really sewed on her stripes was with her 2015 single, ‘Bad Blood,’ a song that became 2015’s biggest miss for many critics. Vastly ignored at the time, it ultimately was the dynamite within a mountain of musical malaise. 2016 has ignited the fuse for NAO and it appears that this really is her time.

The production light on For All We Know is provided by some of the most relevant artists in the field – AK Paul, John Calvert and Jungle being but a few – For All We Know, for this reason, could have easily fallen into the path of being a collaboration album rather than NAO’s debut. Instead it is the voice of an artist who unashamedly wears her emotions upon her sleeve and it is this fact that allows her to stand out amongst the producers. Her exquisite vocal range leaps miles above the production leaving that to remain in the peripheral as she takes centre stage. ‘Girlfriend’ is the finest example of this as her voice lurches in and out of autotune — instead of using it as a crutch, she turns the technique into an instrument of its own.

Where For All We Know demonstrates a progression from NAO’s previous EPs is with its often very eccentric take on soul, funk, R&B and jazz. ‘Get To Know Ya’ messes with dense bass jams and ‘DYWM’ plays with loose guitar jangles. Both pull on an eccentric spice in NAO’s music, they are doors that swing open to fields of space jams and neo-soul. ‘We Don’t Give A’ pushes this notion of funk further and harder than elsewhere allowing the track to be barely recognisable in the context of the album.

What makes For All We Know such an enjoyable listen is the fact it is void of arrogance. It is such an easy album to access which is surely going to allow for it to appeal to a range of music fans — from hip-hop to funk, electronica and dance; there are elements of pleasure littered throughout. This once again harks back to her honesty in the music. ‘Happy’ not only has a sultry beat but the optimism that NAO adopts in her lyrics hit more than one target audience: “I really wanna show your smile to the world / You’re more than a million / I’ll give you my all.” It is the reason we exist as humans — to feel good and reciprocate those sensations to each other.

The lyrical tapestry painted throughout For All We Know paints the growing pains of most twenty-somethings though. It is not a social commentary of society or the generation but a deep excavation of emotions — occasionally touching upon their vulnerability. ‘In The Morning’ is a fine example of this:

I tried to leave him signs
Give him warning
Are they hard to recognise?
You're still falling away cause I can't tell him
I don't love him anymore

The age old tale of heartbreak resonates strongly nowadays, regardless of the fact other artists attempt to snub these feelings in favour of a stonier outlook. NAO targets this vein of emotion and ruptures it, leaving her confessions to tell the tales for many others caught in a similar position.

Influences bleed in and out of one another on the album. NAO has confessed that her deep personal influence lies within 1990s R&B – ultimately, this resonates by far and large throughout the entire piece. ‘Fool To Love,’ ‘Give Me A Little’ and ‘Bad Blood’ all point towards this inspiration so confidently, heavy bass beats sit deep in the foreground of the music giving the music a certain immediacy. ‘Fool To Love’ demonstrates an additional angst that does not emerge elsewhere on the album — its rawness gives the image that it is a fresh wound to NAO’s lyrical artillery.

Elsewhere though, NAO has confessed that her mother’s love for gospel music and how this in turn inspired her — evident in the drunken ‘Blue Wine.’ Similarly, her sister’s penchant for Missy Elliott and at times a more traditional singer-songwriter style cuts in through the likes of ‘Feels Like (Perfume).’ Within these tracks NAO’s voice is left a little barer demonstrating an ability to work closer to the naked self than behind the bright lights of production.

The album barely falters throughout as it details an epic journey through the mind and wisdom of R&B’s latest asset. The only frustrating aspect of the album is the long-winded journey it insists on taking you upon – 18 tracks seems to be remarkably long when the message is largely the same throughout.

Overall For All We Know is a marvellous beginning to NAO’s seemingly fruitful career. It reinvigorates R&B music through her distinctive voice and the electronic textures that sit deep in the background. She attacks an array of issues that are often stomped beneath the floorboards and in doing this, she allows her music to be accessible. NAO has put forward her springboard and leapt off it, summersaulting through musical mundanity to leave an enlightening impression. It would appear that the time is NAO.
Tom Churchill

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