Now Is Early

Jazz-styled vocalist Nicolette was raised on a variety of musical styles by her father.[3] While living in Cardiff, Wales, Nicolette joined her first band Calliope.[4] She later signed to Shut Up and Dance, the record label operated by the Stoke Newington-based electronic duo of the same name, consisting of Philip 'PJ' Johnson and Carl 'Smiley' Hyman.[5] Nicolette reflected that she was initially unsure what the duo "were about," but enjoyed their productions without being able to "pinpoint exactly what it was," telling one journalist: "I was looking for some hard-edged production to balance my sound and in the end the two things – their beats and my melodies – have worked closely together. But not too close."[3]

In 1989, the label released their first two records, one of which was Nicolette's "School of the World"/"Single Minded People".[5] Further Nicolette singles followed on the label, namely "Waking Up"/"Dove Song" (1991), "O Is Nene"/"Udi Egwu" (1991) and "Wicked Mathematics" (1992). Having built up a momentum, with her singles being "left-field club cuts" that gained underground attention,[3] Nicolette decided to release her debut album, Now Is Early, in 1992. Nicolette and Shut Up & Dance wrote the songs the album, while Shut Up & Dance produced and arranged the music.[6] Most of aforementioned tracks reappear on the album alongside other new songs.[6]

Now Is Early places Nicolette's unique, soulful voice atop Shut Up & Dance's hardcore production.[7] The production is breakbeat-driven,"[8] and Exclaim! have described the album's musical style as "jungle before there was a name for the sound."[2] Some songs feature broken beats, such as "Dove Song", while others feature minimal beats, including "No Government".[2] By contrast, Nicolette's voice is smooth and gentle, with a scat style that one critic compared to Bessie Smith, and the album is said to owe as much to the singer's jazz-styled singing as it does to the hardcore production.[3] The singer's vocals were influenced by house music[7] and were further described by some as resembling "Billie Holiday on acid."[2] According to Nicolette at the time of release, the album incorporates "every type of music I've ever listened to," including the music her father raised her on, such as classical music, gospel, African music and Broadway musicals. She nonetheless said that she saw herself as "a dance act, among many things."[3] The songs on the album are self-penned torch songs,[8][9][3] which writer Simon Reynolds described as "bittersweet."[8] Nicolette's lyrics incorporate a stream-of-consciousness approach,[2] while some of the album's songs engage in political commentary.[10]

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[7]

With photography in the album artwork provided by Charlie Fawell,[6] the Shut Up & Dance label released Now Is Early in the United Kingdom as a CD and LP in 1992,[6] although it did not enter the UK Albums Chart. The label also released Now Is Early the same year in Germany in conjunction with Rough Trade Records.[11] Besides lending her vocals to various collaborations, including on Massive Attack's Protection (1994), Nicolette rarely recorded in the ensuing four years after the release of Now Is Early, before finally signing to Talkin' Loud in 1996 and releasing more music under her own name.[10] In 1997, !K7 Records released a digitally remastered version of Now Is Early in Germany with the bonus tracks "School of the World" and "Udi Egwu", both of which appeared on Nicolette's early 1990s single releases.[12] That same year, Nicolette contributed DJ-Kicks: Nicolette to Studio !K7's DJ-Kicks mix album series.[10]

Upon release, Now Is Early received some attention in the British music press. Martin Pearson of Select was surprised by Nicollette's musical style, calling Now Is Early a "deliciously lush debut" that "veers between dancefloor destruction and sparking acappella ambience." He felt that although the singer "wouldn't sound out of place singing dreamy folk songs backed by acoustic guitar," her decision to pair with Shut Up and Dance's minimalist, "headbone-kicking beats" was an unusually successful combination, and described the album as possessing a "determinedly different sound."[3] An unspecified writer for the Newcastle Evening Chronicle was more reserved, feeling the jazzy singing and energetic music made for a disappointing combination.[13] Nicolette said upon critics singling out her distinctive style: "No matter how different people think I sound, it wouldn't have occurred to me unless they told me so. To me, everyone sounds unique."[3] Among retrospective reviews, John Bush of AllMusic rated Now Is Early four stars out of five and felt the album "charts an intriguing course between her soulful, house-influenced vocal work and the more hardcore production sound."[7] In their year-end list of the best albums of 1992, Spex ranked the album at number 3,[14] while OOR ranked it at number 11.[15]

Now Is Early has gone on to be considered one of the first jungle albums, released before the genre had been given a name,[2][16] and an unjustly overlooked work.[9][17] Reynolds credits the album for predicting the jazz-tinged directions explored by jungle music in 1995–96 and felt this was exemplary of Shut Up & Dance large legacy, citing it among several releases on the label which "anticipated crucial stands of the jungalistic sound system," alongside Rum and Black's "Bogeyman" and material by The Ragga Twins.[8] Vibe magazine said the album "proved too odd for mainstream appeal when it was released in [1992]–or perhaps, given the eventual success of similarly idiosyncratic vocalists like Bjork, was simply ahead of its time."[18] In The Rough Guide to Rock, Al Spicer called Now Is Early Nicolette's "lost treasure of an album" and "a collection of torch songs to tear your heart out,"[9] while John Bush of AllMusic reflected that the album showed Nicolette "to be an uncommonly mature talent who wrote her own songs and featured a warm, crystalline voice."[10]

In 1995, OOR ranked the album at number 59 in their list of "The 100 Best Albums of 1991–1995",[14] while in 1999, Spex ranked the album at number 57 in their list of "The 100 Albums of the Century".[1] In 2000, German magazine Zundfunk ranked the album at number 18 in their list of "The Best Albums of the 90s".[14] In 2006, Exclaim! listed the album on their list of "100 Records That Rocked 100 Issues of Exclaim!". The magazine called the album "an absolute classic from its time." They wrote that the "[u]rban, exuberant, and quintessentially British" album delivered Nicolette's "wide-eyed joy, stream-of-consciousness lyrics, and unique voice" which "engaged and entranced, flowing beautifully." They concluded that the album is "[a] must have for drum & bass fans."[2] In 2013, Groove ranked the album at number 40 in their list of "The 100 Best Electronic Albums".[14] In 2006, author Christophe Brault named it the fifteenth best album of 1992.[19] Kirsty Yates of Brighton-based duo Insides listened to Now Is Early during the recording of their album Euphoria (1993).[20]

All tracks are written by Nicolette and Shut Up and Dance.

Adapted from the liner notes of Now Is Early[6]

• Nicolette – writing
• Shut Up & Dance – writing, production, arranging
• Charlie Fawell – photography

• Now Is Early at Discogs (list of releases)