Regular readers of Folk Radio may well recall the name Brooke Sharkey although she hasn’t frequented these pages for a few years with her last album Wandering Heart being released in 2016. A return is long overdue and today we are pleased to share with you Brooke’s forthcoming new single Mmm Ja (out 15th July), a song inspired by new beginnings:
Moving from the U.K. to Norway during December 2020, Brooke Sharkey arrived in Oslo at a precarious time, between the two worldwide waves of Covid-19. This was a decision that opened up more choices and unknowns for Sharkey, on a personal and artistic level. In the melodies and words of ‘Mmm Ja’ and the curious raw footage in the self-produced and directed video (watch below), Brooke observes the new sights, smells, tastes and emerging emotions within and around her as she walks through the streets and into the nearby forests, observing how things are done and how people ‘be’:
“As I was taking pictures and filming along the main dock in Oslo centre, a man came up to me and asked if I spoke French. He was from the Ivory coast and told me he’d been living here for 3 years. We spoke of the dance of integrating into this culture, its advantages as well as its trials.
“The chorus of ‘Mmm Ja’ was inspired by this spontaneous interaction. The lyrics being ‘I don’t know you YET, but I want to YES’ contain the hope in a positive intention in an unknown situation, a hope that maybe I would be welcomed in this new country, which through love, I have decided to call my home.”
What’s incredibly striking about this single is Brooke’s own new explorations. This is quite unlike the songs of her last albums. There’s a newfound freedom in the expressiveness, not just in her vocal range – from the almost whispered and fragile to beautifully crafted highs – it’s much deeper…there’s a new confidence and you can hear that in the song…the overall effect is immensely sublime and moving.
This is her best yet and if this is a new direction in her music I’m 100% onboard and looking forward to more. Her decision to collaborate here with Blythe Pepino (Frontwoman and producer for alternative band Mesadorm) was a stroke of genius…as Blythe recently said on Twitter: “Working with Brooke Sharkey was so much fun, joining her in her song world and bathing in the oddity the nuance and dreaming.” That’s a great partnership and the soundscape they’ve created is both profound and immersive. Excellent.
A new acquisition for Babylegs Records, Brooke is grateful to be releasing this song with the label who have been in her words, ‘a wonderful container of musical appreciation and kindness’.
Brooke is currently working on a new ‘flow’ of songs she will be releasing from Mid 2021 on Babylegs Records collaborating with artist/ producer Blythe Pepino (Mesadorm).