Normanton Street return with New Single “Grace”

There’s something magical about Neo-soul that transcends generational music trends. When the genre first emerged as a by-product of the Motown era in the late 90’s, it was coined to describe the niche amalgamation of Soul and R’n’B. Nowadays, as we’ve seen the use of musical categorization and genre becoming more obsolete, we’ve also seen this shift give new life to the hybridity of Neo-soul music.

One band that embodies everything that the contemporary Neo-soul movement encompasses is QM's very own Normanton Street. The dynamic trio – made up of instrumentalists Ned, Nicholson and lead vocalist Phoebe - have spent their decade-long careers travelling across the UK, Europe and U.S., lighting up intimate stages and touring with the likes of Taleb Kweli. On their travels through the far reaches of the musical world, they’ve remained dedicated to experimenting with all iterations of soul music and coming up with fresh sounds to keep pushing the nostalgic genre they know and love into the future.

Their latest offering “Grace”, sees the band team up with the Bradford Youth Orchestra to bring about a symphonic soul-fusion record, which boasts grounding lyrical messages about dealing with one's expectations in love. Below, we catch up with Normanton Street to talk about the inspirations behind their heartfelt new record, as well as their musical plans for the rest of 2021!

Hey guys! Can you give me a brief background on the band; where you all met and why you mesh so well together musically?

Nicholson: Well, Ned and I grew up on the same street in Bradford and have been music-buddies our whole lives. The band formed in 2011 when we moved to Brighton together and met Phoebe at a gig we played at The Mesmerist bar; where she was working at the time. We sparked up a conversation about music