Fleet Foxes' endorsed Uwade Releases New Single ahead of debut album

Photo Credit: Shervin Lainez

UWADE

SHARES NEW SINGLE HARMATTAN

WATCH MUSIC VIDEO FOR HARMATTAN HERE

DEBUT ALBUM FLORILEGIUM OUT APRIL 25TH

Permeating through the fog...Uwade transports us to dreamy, hazy summer days filled with lightness and serenity. Each of her four released songs are both delicate and didactic, showing a purposeful selection of quality over quantity.' - Pigeons & Planes

'a lovely, genre-defying blend of folk, soul, electronic beats, and more.' - Brooklyn Vegan

Nigerian-born, North Carolina-raised musician Uwade will release her long-awaited debut album Florilegium next month via Thirty Tigers, and today she shares another preview of the forthcoming album with 'Harmattan.' Uwade grew up steeped in the sounds of hymnal choral music and Nigerian Highlife on her late-father’s car radio.

'Harmattan' in particular emerged from a period where she was immersed in West African music, specifically afrobeats and string instruments that she found bordered on medieval European harpsichords. While tracking the drum solo for the track, she shared with percussionist Jason Burger videos of an Esan dance masquerade called Egbabonelimhin that was performed during her father’s burial for reference; during his first few takes she got the chills. The resulting track is an album standout. We meet a new side of her musical aesthetic here too, more true-blue pop earworm.

On the new single, Uwade shares 'For a long time, this song was a giant puzzle. I couldn't figure out lyrics, a compelling arrangement, or how to transform it from the earliest stages of the demo to what it is now. Somehow the song's creative cycle is reflected in the subject matter–lots of questions, few answers, and being forced to find comfort in the chaos. It turned out that every new phase of experimentation unlocked another element of the song that I loved. As Harmattan went from demo to studio to demo to studio, I refined my vision and the song became exactly what I wanted. 'Will you sway with me when my voice gives out?’' Is one of my favorite lyrics on Florilegium. Writing it helped me to unravel a huge knot of anxiety around being a musician that I'd been dealing with for some time. I don't think there's an answer, but I’m ok with that for now.'

Uwade has been everywhere over the past few years, quietly. Her emotive voice is what opens Fleet Foxes' Grammy-nominated album, Shore. Since then, she has earned praise from The New York Times and NPR for early singles, collaborated with her local North Carolina community on Psychic Hotline, has opened for the likes of The Strokes, Jamila Woods, Sylvan Esso, Local Natives, and more – all the while studying at Columbia and Oxford. At long last, she will release her debut album Florilegium, out April 25th via Ehiose Records / Thirty Tigers.

Uwade will perform a string of headline shows including a sold out date in London, and US shows in New York City, Seattle, Chicago and Los Angeles. All dates are below and for more information, please visit https://www.uwade.com.

Tour Dates

3/25/25 - London, UK @ Rough Trade West

3/26/25 - London, UK @ The Forge SOLD OUT

4/24/25 - Brooklyn, NY @ Baby’s All Right

5/03/25 - Seattle, WA @ Barboza

5/10/25 - Chicago, IL @ Schubas

5/15/25 - Los Angeles, CA @ Moroccan Lounge

7/5/25 - Quilcene, WA @ Quilcene Lantern

5/16-18/25 - Big Sur, CA @ Hipnic SOLD OUT

8/28-31/25 - Dorset, UK @ End of the Road Festival

Uwades solo output and collaborations have been met with critical acclaim, and now she prepares to release a full-length entirely her own. Florilegium is a shimmering anthology that finds sweetness and light in sorrow, an amalgamation of disparate influences and recording sessions seamlessly fitting together through her expressive, expansive voice. Her academic studies informed her work with astonishing originality and depth. Currently in school for her PhD, she cites Catullus and Virgil among her influences (along with Julian Casablancas and Nina Simone).

The album's title is borrowed from the Latin adjective florilegus, which means 'flower-gathering.' 'I offer these songs as flowers of gratitude to those who have seen me through my life. I share them with the world as a reminder to cherish opportunities for renewal,' says Uwade.

Florilegium came together in three studio sessions broken up over a year and a half. It began in upstate New York in 2022 with Sam Cohen, after she spent a stretch touring heavily in support of Fleet Foxes. Early in 2024, her friend Jon Seale offered her a week at his studio space in New York City, where she further honed her ideas — and then she returned to her home state of North Carolina later that year, finishing the album with Alli Rogers at Betty's, Sylvan Esso’s sun-soaked studio in Chapel Hill. Uwade felt decisive, empowered, completely in control of her own creative vision.