# STEVEN DAYVID MCKELLAR Comes To Terms With Himself In New Meditative Album “NAMA”… Out Now!

- Link: https://www.nyrdcast.com/steven-dayvid-mckellar-comes-to-terms-with-himself-in-new-meditative-album-nama-out-now/
- Published: 2022-09-21T13:30:00-05:00
- Author: Eugene Tierney

![](https://i0.wp.com/mcusercontent.com/f67b4587af2b2ef9aa80ed984/images/97b13bee-
3fc9-3059-247b-7b5271bef736.jpg?w=1290&ssl=1)

“… startling…. falling somewhere between Four Tet and a slightly straighter iteration
of Thom Yorke’s work with _Atoms For Peace_.” – **_Under The Radar_**

“From its structure to the rich instrumentation, [McKellar’s music] recalls _Amnesiac/
Kid A_ era Radiohead.” – **_MXDWN_**

**STEVEN DAYVID McKELLAR**
**Comes to terms with himself in new meditative album**_**
NAMA**_

**Former Civil Twilight Vocalist/Songwriter
Releases new full-length album ‘_NAMA’
_following EP’s_ One and Zero _and _Stop Running_

![](https://i0.wp.com/mcusercontent.com/f67b4587af2b2ef9aa80ed984/images/37ecbe3a-
3aad-0eb4-bee2-3eb7e06b2412.jpg?resize=279%2C342&ssl=1)

**Steven Dayvid McKellar**
Photo credit: **Lauren Stocker**

**SEPTEMBER 20, 2022 (Los Angeles, CA) — **“It’s a call to my future and past self,
in an attempt to be more present while the world frothed with uncertainty and change,”
says South African-born/Los Angeles-based singer songwriter **STEVEN DAYVID MCKELLAR**
about his new meditative full-length album, _**[NAMA](https://reybee.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f67b4587af2b2ef9aa80ed984&id=cc477e0ea0&e=615f2b8493)**_(
released today _via _**Sonic Ritual**). A follow-up to his 2020 debut solo album_**
ETHIO**_, _NAMA_ furthers McKellar’s internal exploration of the last two pandemic
years, observing the current state of the world as affected by isolation with the
larger cultural context that the polarized socio/political environment has bred 
in this country. Featuring a collection of music from his former EPs (the introspective_**
One and Zero**_ and pensive **_Stop Running_**), _NAMA_ also serves as a reflection
of personal self-realization of coming to terms with oneself from the social and
mental environment that was brought from the social distancing. 

_NAMA_ balances self-examination with an outward push into the unknown. Despite 
the seemingly restrictive minimalism of its construction, the album is teeming with
a dense atmosphere, layers of crunchy, trancing beats, haunting melodies, and back-
road, windows-down introspection. At the heart of _NAMA_, however, with its wide
range of human expression, is an odd, paradoxical sense of joy — that particular
sort of quiet pleasure that can only be found in the unsatisfied desires of life
that, by their mere existence, that point us hopefully toward the unknown and the
numinous. As McKellar sings in the record’s playful track “**Nama Wind**,”** **“
_Nama got a wind a blowing everywhere I be / In the darkest cave, in silence or 
in city / A foreign tongue hiding in the melody / The blade on the shoulder cutting
through the deep bringing in._“

Deftly self-produced, the record is a musical psychoanalysis of McKellar’s own identity,
where the primitive utterances of the subconscious are quite literally coaxed and
arranged into fully realized expressions of song throughout the album, from the 
minimal electronic heartbreak of lead off track “**One & Zero**” to the haunted 
claustrophobia of second single “**Stop Running**” and the fractured beauty of album
closer “**Edge Of The Garden**.”  

![](https://i0.wp.com/mcusercontent.com/f67b4587af2b2ef9aa80ed984/_compresseds/c654e232-
fd23-77ed-e06c-fb7294255e85.jpg?w=1290&ssl=1)

_**NAMA **_

[[_**NAMA**_

Tracklisting:
1. [One and Zero](https://reybee.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f67b4587af2b2ef9aa80ed984&id=8e2cd43a9d&e=615f2b8493)
2. Nama Wind3. Slow Fade4. Stop Running5. Pull Away6. Trillion Tiny Waves7. Edge
of the Garden

With his previous band **Civil Twilight**, McKellar had seen life on the big stage,
having led the South African rock band through a very successful run, sharing stages
with Jimmy Eat World, Silversun Pickups, Smashing Pumpkins and Florence + the Machine
amongst others. Civil Twilight’s songs were placed on TV shows such as _One Tree
Hill, House, _and _Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles._ Now solo and focusing
on releasing music on his own terms, he’s thankful to continue being creative.  “
I’m just happy having some new music of mine out in the world,” he smiles. “I feel
very blessed to be able to do that. I don’t really hope for things anymore. It’s
not good for me.”

_**NAMA**_ is now released _via_ **Sonic Ritual** and available at [https://lnk.to/NAMA](https://reybee.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f67b4587af2b2ef9aa80ed984&id=13bfb5ccb4&e=615f2b8493).

**[Instagram](https://reybee.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f67b4587af2b2ef9aa80ed984&id=ee5ce09571&e=615f2b8493)
| [Facebook](https://reybee.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f67b4587af2b2ef9aa80ed984&id=921b9252d3&e=615f2b8493)
| [YouTube](https://reybee.us13.list-manage.com/track/click?u=f67b4587af2b2ef9aa80ed984&id=9a2ccbcd2a&e=615f2b8493)**

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