Best of Alberta: Ngandu - NYMTE

Ngandu - NYMTE

Alberta: Top 10 of 2021

by Danielle Wensley

Published on December 3, 2021

In an effort to cure his pandemic blues, Ngandu turned to the keys of his piano, diving into instrumental meanderings fuelled by a craving for togetherness. N.Y.M.T.E. (Need You More Than Ever) is the result, a beautiful and cohesive instrumental narration of pandemic-life. Surprisingly lighthearted, N.Y.M.T.E. is infused with sunny, traditional Soukous and Kwassa Kwassa rhythms that dance hand-in-hand with velvety House-inspired synths and irresistibly funky horn samples.

Bo Burnham’s transcendent comedy special isn’t the only great piece of COVID-adjacent art titled Inside released this year. The indie-rock quintet’s latest opens and closes with the sounds of the 7pm clanging pots and pans that once heralded the essential workers, and many of the tracks find them grappling with introspective thoughts while trapped in a room – being stuck inside one’s own head being an even worse fate than the physical boundaries.