Shida Shahabi previews upcoming album First Light at Hand with PJ Harvey collaboration

First Light at Hand follows Shahabi's 2023 album Living Circle, as well as recent scores for Thibault Emin's feature film Else, Teresa Sutherland's Lovely, Dark and Deep, and Charlotte Le Bon's debut feature Falcon Lake. "Wreath" lands as the first preview of the album, with Harvey circling lyrics that are described as the album's "rallying cry".

Harvey and Shahabi first crossed paths in 2024 when Shahabi performed at an event in London's Gunnersbury Park curated by Harvey, with their mutual admiration turning into a mutual interest in collaboration. "I was already working on the song's production," Shahabi recalls, "and it all came about organically. It was wonderful to collaborate with someone whose relationship to writing and words comes so naturally, and with an artist whose musical world I love."

"When Shida first sent me the piece of music that became 'Wreath' I was immediately drawn to its deep, earthy weight, and the way it slowly evolved and transformed. It felt like a living organism," Harvey adds. "I asked her to write for me a page of freeform words inspired by the music. I used her words as the basis of the song, adding things here and there, and editing it down. I kept my melodic line very simple and repetitive to marry with the slow changes in the music."

Shahabi, a keen gardener, often revisits themes of nature and light in her work, informing her choice of song titles across the album, which address different states and characters of light. "This was a thought that often came up: the strange ways light travels and creates biological life, how it directs the natural cycle," she explains of the album's throughline.

First Light at Hand artwork

First Light at Hand tracklist

"Phantasm"
"Wreath (feat. PJ Harvey)"
"Infinite Fifth"
"Handspun"
"Iridescent"
"Alba"
"Sun-Filled Swarm"
"Bright Ruin"