Track of the day: ‘First Light’ by Eliza Marshall

‘First Light was very inspired by a time in Kenya when I got up early and I could hear all the cicadas in the long grasses,’ says Eliza. ‘It felt really appropriate to use those sounds within the recording and then be able to layer-up lots of different bass flute sounds, some balafon, a few vocals and then the haunting flute melody on top of it.’

‘First Light could be the sunrise, a new dawn but it could also be a life coming into the world. What is that first light that you see? It’s a very beautiful thing, the innocence of that first moment in the world. But this isn’t always a happy place. This isn’t a perfect world, much as we’d love that. There are lots of things we need to fix. There’s an element of sadness or an element of realisation that this isn’t just this perfect earth.’

LISTEN TO FIRST LIGHT

The tracks from the New Birth EP were recorded at Real World Studios, England and Dakar, Senegal with world class musicians from Senegal and The Gambia (Ady Thioune and Ansumana Suso) and the UK (Andrew Morgan, Dònal Rogers), and production from Ivor Novello recipient Graeme Pleeth.

Renowned for her work with the award-winning folk group Ranagri, Eliza is also an in-demand session player contributing to records by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Paul McCartney, First Aid Kit, Florence & The Machine and The White Stripes. She was a member of Peter Gabriel’s New Blood Orchestra and also appears on his current album i/o. Classically trained, Eliza grew up listening to Steve Reich, Paul Simon and the aforementioned Gabriel, along with traditional music from all over the world.

First Light is available now on all digital platforms and the New Birth EP follows in May.

XRW48 – Eliza Marshall’s New Birth EP is released on Real World X on 23 May, 2025.
The tracks New Birth and First Light are available to hear now
https://lnk.to/XRW48