néomí

“I write to tell stories,” says Neomi Speelman, the Dutch/Surinamese singer-songwriter who performs under the moniker néomí. Most of the time those stories are personal, but they’re also universal …

“I write to tell stories,” says Neomi Speelman, the Dutch/Surinamese singer-songwriter who performs under the moniker néomí. Most of the time those stories are personal, but they’re also universal stories of endurance told with her own intimate style and unique sense of perspective. “Life is fucked up, but it’s life and you have to live it anyway.”

With a delicate sound carrying the weight of an old soul, néomí’s stripped-back style blends the lush ambience of contemporary indie-pop artists like Phoebe Bridgers, Justin Vernon and Julia Jacklin with the troubadour flair of sixties protest folk. Her approach to writing – equal parts confessional and philosophical – has been shaped by Joni Mitchell’s belief that a good song needs to have gone through “a period of sensitivity to a moment of clarity.” Otherwise, it’s just complaining. “I thought that was a nice way to think about it,” néomí says. “You’re not just coming to complain, you’re telling a story for a purpose. You want to say something in the hope that it will resonate with people, and they’ll feel heard or inspired.”

Music wasn’t the obvious path for néomí growing up in Zwijndrecht, an industrial town just outside Rotterdam, though it was always a presence at home. Her mother would always sing around the house, while her father’s music taste (Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, The Beatles) rubbed off on her. She took piano lessons on her mother’s encouragement and didn’t get on with it but credits it now as her “first experience with music.” It wasn’t until years later, when she came across a live video of Ben Howard performing his campfire folk hit “Old Pine,” that she decided to pick up a guitar, teach herself how to play, and write songs of her own. “It just felt very real and honest,” she says of folk as one of