On the Rise
Nectar Woode

It didn’t feel right speaking to Nectar on one of the dreariest days of the year. Released earlier this year, her debut EP, Nothing To Lose, is intrinsically uplifting; each note inflected with sunshine. The tracks are reminiscent of a summer’s day on Primrose Hill, having a drink with friends in the afternoon golden hour.

Nectar calls from a studio session in Bath, where she’s working with Bad Sounds. Coincidentally, they’re the group that she made her breakout single “Good Vibrations” with back in 2023; a track that grew from a blend of spontaneity and nostalgia. Chatting about “a summery day where you're doing nothing but going to the park, meeting your friends, maybe playing a bit of rounders,” Nectar started jamming some chords and “recorded everything live in the room.”

But Head Above Water marks a shift in Nectar’s music. After the hype surrounding “Good Vibrations”, she found herself in a post-summer slump, “feeling really down.” Music became an escape, with each song acting like a new diary entry. “I could just keep writing and get how I was feeling out that way,” she says.

Despite the recent hard times that inspired Head Above Water, Nectar still enjoys playing “Good Vibrations”. “Last summer I wasn't mentally in the best place”, she reflects. “But I had to keep singing ‘Good Vibrations’... I found that if I was being super positive it was just forcing it.” The track became a source of catharsis, with the potential to escape and enter a “different vibe”.

Nectar’s joyful sound developed around her love of soul music. “My main influence is soul - a broad range of it”, she explains. From her voice to the way she approaches her songwriting, soul is quite clearly the core of Nectar’s music; her inspiration and motivation. Getting into the specifics, she highlights “90s, 2000s soul - D'Angelo, Erykah Badu, Maxwell - I was listening to it growing up but I wasn't really taking it in until I went to uni, studied music and I was like ‘yo, I'm a big fan of this!’” She touches on further influences, from the sounds of the 70s with Donny Hathaway and Roberta Flack, to songwriters like Joni Mitchell and Carole King.

There’s a new generation of artists reinventing soul and jazz, a renaissance Nectar is clearly immersed in. Talking about the move to reinvigorate jazz, she buzzes with excitement. “I don't know if you've heard the new Clairo album? Obsessed.” She admits having never really listened to Clairo’s music before, with its indie-pop tendencies. “Then she started working with more of a soul circle making this album. Like you've got me hooked,” she grins.

Nectar looks back fondly on her childhood in Milton Keynes, a time when she longed to be a musician. “My mum reminds me I've always wanted to do music. I've always wanted to gig.” She grew up in what was “definitely a free, creative space.” Going to jazz gigs at The Stables with her dad, she reminisces watching “some instrumental saxophone music – you'd see their craft and be like ‘Whoa, how do they do that?’ So disciplined.”

After moving to London to study music at university, Nectar fell into a rhythm of open mic nights and jam sessions. “There's always something going on in London, you can always be inspired by it. Like in North London there could be a jam or songwriting thing, then you go down South the next day and you're listening to the best jazz you've ever heard.” It’s easy to see that Nectar became the artist she is today from open mics, improv sessions and London’s musical sub-groups. “Buster Mantis in Deptford was great... Then we've got Colour's Orii Jam on a Monday, and NT's Loft in East. Gonna try do one in West so I've covered everywhere.”

Live music has always been at the heart of what initially appealed to Nectar about being a musician. Looking back on the nostalgia of 2000s Internet culture, she remembers how “YouTube didn't have ads and I could just watch a whole live performance, locked in. And I will never forget watching Lauryn Hill's MTV Unplugged. And it was a lot of improv, so much of her just chatting to the audience.”

The creative process behind Head Above Water definitely pushed Nectar out of her comfort zone as a musician, from the chant-based introduction of the EP’s titular track, to the introspection of “Grow”. Nectar describes the latter track as “the most personal thing I've ever done.” As someone who presents an aura of relentless positivity, “Grow” isn’t afraid to share life’s imperfections. “I'm very proud of it because I didn't think I could make something like that and be as honest as possible.”

The new EP is a noticeable point of evolution. “This time it's a lot of self reflection on how I can improve… I'm not perfect and I'm still learning.”

Nectar is refreshed and raring to go following the completion of Head Above Water. Following a recent support slot for Leon Bridges, she’s now embarking on her first headline tour - which includes a date at Hackney’s Moth Club on 27 November - and will be joining the Teskey Brothers at their Alexandra Palace show next summer.

Her music might be influenced by nostalgia for the past, but Nectar Woode has got the future in mind.