Snoh Aalegra — NPR Music Tiny Desk, Washington D.C., 2020

This concert, filmed live, brings Snoh Aalegra behind the familiar desk of NPR Music’s Tiny Desk series in Washington, D.C., for a session aired in February 2020. The Iranian-Swedish soul and R&B singer performs mainly material from her album ‘Ugh, those feels again’ (2019), including ‘I Want You Around’, ‘Whoa’ and ‘Fool For You’. The intimate Tiny Desk format calls for stripped-down arrangements, with no studio production or programming, placing the voice at the center and revealing the grain and phrasing of a performer often compared to the great figures of classic soul. The set opens with ‘Love Like That’ and closes with ‘Find Someone Like You’, a running order that favors emotion over display. The absence of effects and the close, unadorned capture typical of the NPR series turn these songs into tight acoustic readings. Recorded in the offices of American public radio, this live performance shows Snoh Aalegra’s ability to carry a demanding repertoire under live conditions, far from the arrangements that define her studio recordings.