Naima Bock

Naima Bock anchors her work in the collective spirit of performance above all, while also drawing from Brazilian traditions and folk lineages. Her earlier experience in Goat Girl had already honed a skill for fusing disparate styles, yet the 2022 debut album Giant Palm introduced an expansive blend of jazz, electronic textures, acoustic elements, and classical touches that felt like fresh ground for the songwriter. Even as she expanded the sonic reach on the follow-up Below a Massive Dark Land in 2024, the core sense of personal disclosure remained intact.

Born in Glastonbury to a Greek mother and Brazilian father, Bock spent her early childhood in Sao Paolo, where she absorbed the sounds of Chico Buarque, Baden Powell, and Geraldo Vandre. At age seven her family returned to England and settled in South London, where her stepfather introduced her to the 1930s, 1940s, and 1950s folk recordings compiled by Alan Lomax. By her teenage years she was immersed in the local circuit, regularly attending shows at the Windmill Brixton and, at fifteen, forming Goat Girl alongside Lottie Pendlebury, Ellie Rose Davies, and Rosy Jones.

The band's raw combination of punk, country, and goth quickly built both a dedicated audience and critical praise, but shortly after the 2018 release of their self-titled debut album Bock left on good terms to pursue other paths. She enrolled in archaeology studies at University College London and took work as a gardener, yet continued writing and occasionally performing alone; she also joined the South London folk collective Broadside Hacks while teaching herself guitar and violin. A conversation with coworker Josh Cohen, who operates the label Memorials of Distinction, led her to producer and arranger Joel Burton, formerly of Viewfinder and now focused on classical and experimental improv approaches. Their sessions began just before the COVID-19 pandemic arrived in early 2020, but Dan Carey of Speedy Wunderground provided free studio access, and fellow musicians contributed remotely, resulting in several tracks featuring more than thirty players.

Although the debut album was finished by late 2020, Sub Pop did not issue the first single "30 Degrees" until a year later. Bock followed it in December 2021 with her reading of the Brazilian standard "Berimbau." Brazilian and folk influences shaped Giant Palm, which arrived on Sub Pop in July 2022 to widespread acclaim; the record's inventive warmth prompted extensive touring the next year alongside Squid, This Is the Kit, J. Mascis, and others. She still found room to record the February 2023 single "Lines" and a September cover of Leonard Cohen's "So Long, Marianne."

Most of the second album was composed in isolation, whether inside her grandmother's shed in South London or during travels through Greece, Amsterdam, and Tucson, Arizona. For the sessions Bock self-produced several tracks and enlisted co-producers Jack Osborne and Joe Jones together with the core group of bassist and vocalist Clem Appleby, guitarist and vocalist Oscar De Guardans, drummer and vocalist Cassidy Hansen, and saxophonist Meitar Wegman. Augmented by choir, horns, and strings, Below a Massive Dark Land surfaced in September 2024, extending the panoramic scope of Giant Palm while retaining some of Bock's most direct, personal material.