THE NOMAD Releases Momentum, His First New Music In Over A Decade

September 2, 2024: After a quarter century of pushing boundaries and frequencies Daimon Schwalger, aka The Nomad, firmly fits the bill as a pioneer of the electronica music scene in Aotearoa.

Since his first album release ‘Movement’ in 1998, he has gone on to release nine full length albums, remix albums and various singles while working with some of music’s leading talents including Barnaby Weir (Black Seeds), MC Antsman (Rhombus), Tehimana Kerr (Fat Freddy’s Drop), Pearl Runga, Tiki Taane, Opiuo and King Kapisi.

“The nomadic traveller working on beats all day” has compiled an impressive body of work, which features collaborations with many different artists and musicians from New Zealand, Australia, UK and Jamaica. The stage is the second home for The Nomad, who was a recurring favourite at Aotearoa's seminal dance festival The Gathering and recently sold out his 2023 tour throughout NZ. The Nomad has also supported international greats like Moby, Rockers HiFi, the Mad Professor and Fat Boy Slim.

Today The Nomad releases Momentum feat Michèle Ducray, his first single in 10 years, which will feature on the forthcoming limited edition double-vinyl Infinite Part III, before appearing on a future album of the same name, to be released in 2025.

It was cause for celebration: the final stop in a nationwide tour to mark 25 years at vanguard of electronic music in Aotearoa New Zealand, performed live to a rapturous ‘hometown’ crowd in Wellington, late April 2024. And, for The Nomad, it was nearly his last performance ever.

After 25 years of producing music, touring, teaching others and managing his own career at time of enormous change in how people buy and listen to music, The Nomad aka Daimon Schwalger never thought of slowing down until his body demanded him to.

Before he took the stage that night, Schwalger was already affected by alarming health concerns that delayed his travel toward Wellington. He plowed ahead, seated, the lynchpin of a 400-member live performance.

His next destination: hospital, where he would spend two days in HDU and eventually diagnosed with an extensive blood clot that left him needing to learn how to walk again.

Taking three months out to recover, Schwalger returned to his place of inspiration, the studio, where he reflected on his journey and the role music has in meeting the many challenges along the way – lifting him up, breaking the chains, pulling him back into the light, and keeping momentum.

Momentum is a track for our times, sparking energy in times of gathering clouds and delivering an essential message of widespread appeal: unity, progression, and simple joy.

“After a decade spent putting down fresh roots on the West Coast, seasoned rave warrior The Nomad suddenly burst back on the music scene last year, releasing two double-LPs of back- catalogue gems culled from 25 years of recordings and also touring the land, selling out shows wherever he played. Now he’s back with his first new material in ten years: the woofer-worrying breakbeat anthem “Momentum”, a blast of raw, hectic, hurtling joy destined to cram dancefloors and red-line amplifiers at summer festivals nationwide.” - Grant Smithies

Featuring the vocals of emerging Christchurch talent Michele Ducray, with music and lyrics written by Schwalger, Momentum is an energetic return to the frontlines of electronica for The Nomad, following the recent Infinite 25-year anniversary compendium.

Highly accomplished Australian sound engineer Liam Quinn, who has worked with Rita Ora and Peach PRC among others, mixed the vocals and mastered the single to provide heft for a widespread appeal.

As part of the production process, The Nomad explored emerging frontiers of AI to finesse the tune in early stages of development, as well as backing track effects, to build on the original composition but not create the work itself.

Momentum, The Nomad’s first single in 10 years, will be released on 2 September 2024, and will also feature on the forthcoming limited edition double-vinyl Infinite Part III. The accompanying music video will be released 4 November.

Momentum is the first single from the future album of the same name, to be released in 2025.

The Nomad brings the show to town returning to the Loons, Lyttelton, for a special event to launch Infinite III the last in the Infinite double vinyl series, which celebrates 25 years of music making by The Nomad.

A heavy weight line up in support on the night includes four of the featured remix producers; Legendary House DJ Greg Churchill, Sizemore, solo production by Simon Rycroft of Rhombus, dynamic dub wise Deep Fried Dub and up and coming young fella to watch, Future Flowz.

Visual narrative delights will be provided in high contrast by the extraordinarily talented WarpTV, aka Tim Budgen, and C-M-J will be the host for the evening.

The Nomad promises exclusive merchandise, so check out the musical velocity of Infinite III launch party on Sat 19th October.

© Scoop Media