“It might not all be easy listening, but it’s certainly intentional.” That’s a direct quote from the press notes for the latest record from the Nicole Saphos Band. The new self-titled album from the Los Angeles-raised, Philadelphia-based artist is equal parts meditative, angry, sensitive, and intense, with a style rooted largely in indie rock but a sensibility that shuffles off genres and labels.
It’s Saphos’ first full-length album since 2023’s Figure Eights (she and her band released a Christmas single in 2024). While fans of her previous work will find plenty of familiar sounds here, the overall feel is definitely louder and more cathartic. Saphos herself admits that the record possesses “an undoubted heaviness”.
With a core group of Saphos on vocals, bass, and acoustic guitar, Sean Markey on guitar, and Ele Rubenstein on drums, the record starts with a simmer on “Be Fine”. guitars swirl around, and a steady beat emerges, Saphos singing, “Suddenly I / Am caught up too terribly high / And I’m falling for what’s above / Forgetting just what I am made of.” The band move through a variety of adventurous vocal harmonies and slashing chords, making for a sumptuous overture.
Saphos and the group really get going on the ambitious, driving “Consumed”, featuring a galloping beat and plenty of references to life in her Philly surroundings. “I’m home in Philadelphia, the city where we meet,” she sings. “East Mt. Airy row home, in heavy August heat.” The overall feel of the record is reminiscent of hometown kindred spirit Joy Burklund, whose 2025 debut album was also a power-pop celebration of friends and musicians that fuel her enthusiasm and dedication in the City of Brotherly Love.
In “Virtually for No One”, the caffeinated beats and storytelling urgency were inspired by the events and controversy surrounding the purchase and near collapse of noted local venue World Café Live. The record could easily be considered a love letter to the city.
Elsewhere, two of the songs are inspired by American modernist poet Marianne Moore. “Defiant Edifice” is a haunting, atmospheric track dotted with acoustic guitars, percussion, and what sounds like bowed bass (Saphos plays both electric and upright). “Elephant Skin”, which closes the record, employs gentle balladry and beautiful instrumental textures as Saphos recites Moore’s eloquent words: “I do these things which I do / Which please no one but myself / Now I breathe and now I am submerged.”
Saphos also returns to her Los Angeles roots on the beautiful, ethereal “Ladyface”, which chronicles devastating wildfires with honesty and directness. Saphos mourns the destruction as the band swirl around her. “This shouldn’t be the way it is,” she sings. Another fire in Los Angeles. The record’s cover art is a direct reference to the events she sings about here – a closeup of Saphos’ face, superimposed on the inverted profile of a mountain range known as Ladyface, near her childhood home.
With a sound that evokes influences old and new – Björk, Fiona Apple, Dirty Projectors, and Wet Leg are among her admitted influences – Nicole Saphos is a songwriter and musician whose music grapples with heavy emotions and the buzz of nostalgia, yet never seems derivative. Her songs are fresh, unique, and able to walk through fire.