Montell Fish has released Forever, an acoustic track with the Australian singer-songwriter Vancouver Sleep Clinic, and it opens an EP called NEST that arrives on 2 October. The song turns on one repeated line, a promise to stay here forever, and Clash hears the usual Fish combination underneath it: modern soul, folk and rock, held slightly at a distance.
The production credits say more about the record than the description does. Fish produced all four tracks on NEST himself. Buddy Ross adds production across the EP, and Jim-E Stack contributes to Forever specifically, which puts two well-travelled pop and hip-hop producers around an artist who normally works alone.
It has been a busy year for the 28-year-old. In March he made his debut as a film composer on Anima, the first narrative feature by Brian Tetsuro Ivie, which premiered at SXSW. That is a different discipline from writing songs, and it is the sort of credit that tends to change how an artist arranges everything afterwards.
He has been moving sideways in other directions too. He collaborated with Clara La San on Love You Right, and in August he played All Points East in London under the name dj gummy bear, sharing a bill with Tyler, The Creator, Dijon, Baby Keem and Daniel Caesar. A songwriter who releases spare acoustic records and also DJs a festival under an alias is working a wider patch than most.
The EP shares its name with the tour behind it. The Nest Tour runs 20 dates across North America and Europe, starting on 27 October at The Ford in Los Angeles and taking in London's Exhibition White City on 20 November.
No tracklist for NEST has been published beyond the opening song, so three of the four titles are still unknown. Our earlier note on this story recorded that absence and missed everything else: the production credits, the film work and the tour were all in the same report.
Confirmed release dates are tracked on the release calendar, and the rest of our coverage from this corner sits on the R&B and soul hub.
The facts
- Montell Fish released Forever with Vancouver Sleep Clinic on 18 September.
- It opens a four-track EP called NEST, out on 2 October.
- Fish produced all four tracks himself.
- Buddy Ross adds production across the EP and Jim-E Stack works on Forever.
- In March he scored Brian Tetsuro Ivie's feature Anima, which premiered at SXSW.
- He played All Points East in London in August as dj gummy bear.
- The Nest Tour runs 20 dates from 27 October at The Ford in Los Angeles.
- No tracklist beyond the opening song has been published.
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