Nakhane Touré was only 19 years old when he came out as gay. Living in a small town on the Eastern Cape of South Africa in a community of strict fundamentalist Christians at the time, coming out meant the actor and musician was sent to conversion therapy, an experience that made him question his Christian faith altogether and turn to his own form of prayer for guidance. Eventually, following a controversial appearance in a queer South African film that prompted death threats, Nakhane relocated to London, where his music career has since flourished. It’s a life story loaded with enough affliction and triumph to make You Will Not Die, Nakhane’s deeply personal, grief-stricken shout of a debut album, an instant revelation on its own terms. With several stunning moments centering Nakhane’s crises of faith that give his supple voice room to strut and soar, You Will Not Die is a strikingly intimate album that succeeds despite some occasionally lead-footed pacing and stilted theatrics.
You Will Not Die was released in Europe last year, and it’s now being re-released stateside in deluxe form with five new tracks, featuring the standout song “New Brighton.” The victorious, upbeat track tackles the legacy of colonialist names and monuments conferred on towns in South Africa, with streaks of bright synths, rhythm guitar, and backing vocals by ANOHNI. “Never knew them before, don’t know them now,” Nakhane rallies proudly over the charging backdrop, “What about my mother and her sisters/Where was their name?” The song is a revelatory statement that twists the album’s recurring themes of religiosity and his personal history into bold new shapes.
Early highlight “Interloper” pulls off a similar trick, riding swaggering electric guitar licks and a rolling drum line as Nakhane details the clash between a clandestine tryst and his faith: “Good Lord, I see him now/Tell me what happened to the opium of your word,” he sings seductively, recalling Wild Beasts’ similarly wily and expressive Hayden Thorpe, “Let me put my finger in the cavern of his mouth.” Nakhane’s vocals throughout “Interloper” simmer under the surface until he lets them rise on the chorus, letting out a piercing clarion call halfway through that sets the song ablaze.
Nakhane’s voice is a deep and soulful instrument, and he employs it with both the delicacy of a feather and the weighty drop of a hammer. Yet the funeral march across You Will Not Die’s middle section undercuts Nakhane’s talent. Moody ballad “The Dead” plods into “Star Red” and “Fog,” both downcast and overly theatrical to the point of an Off-Broadway production. A few songs on You Will Not Die also feel perhaps overly indebted to ANOHNI, whether drawing from the solemn dramaturgy of Antony and the Johnsons (“Presbyteria”) or the pummeling electronics of 2016’s HOPELESSNESS (“Clairvoyant”).
Yet Nakhane proves he’s able to craft ballads while bringing his influences into play in a more intriguing way, dialing things down for a cover of New Order’s eternal, springy 1983 single “Age of Consent.” Suspended by sparse electric guitar, piano, and choral backing vocals, the cover is an opportunity for Nakhane’s voice to take center stage in unblemished fashion, climbing up to a falsetto and back down again while rendering the song completely anew. It’s a maneuver that, like “New Brighton,” offers up exceptional promise for Nakhane’s future, wherever it may lead.
CORRECTION: A previous version of this review inaccurately reflected portions of Nakhane’s biography.
