Molly with Charles is a collaboration between singer and songwriter Molly Arizona and pianist, composer and producer Charles Nutrivore. They first collaborated in May 2016, and their musical chemistry was so natural that they immediately wanted to work on an EP-length project. Since then, the duo has released two EPs, “q+m” and “the paris tape," and their debut album “Ownership.”
The band draws a lot of inspiration from the exacting, soulful minimalism of artists like Sade, Frank Ocean and John Mayer. Their work is also a testament to the diversity of the Bay Area music scene, with contributions from Vacaville jazz trumpeters, South Berkeley rappers and Oakland guitarists.
The band is a powerful presence live. Molly's stunning natural vocal talent and stage presence anchors their sound, while Charles combines an acoustic and electronic sensibility with his piano, synths and computer, bridging the intricacies of his production with the demands of alive setting. The duo also often includes other instrumentation - bass, drums, trumpet - to bring their ambitious ideas to life. The band's live performances have drawn comparisons to popular neo-soul groups such as Hiatus Kiayote, Daniel Caesar and Phony Ppl.
on ownership
Molly with Charles is a songwriting partnership between Molly Arizona and Charles Nutrivore. That much is clear from the name; what’s less obvious is the way that a constellation of Bay Area collaborators has impacted their sound since first getting together as a 7 piece band for tour rehearsals in the summer of 2018. Weaving in soulful guitar, flugelhorn, trombone, trumpet, drums, bass and Brandy inspired backgrounds into a textured, meditative soundscape, their album Ownership sifts through years of studio sessions to tease out a gleaming thread running through the corridors of memory.
The Lauryn Hill lyric "I know it's possible, to finally be in love, and know the real meaning of, A lasting relationship, not based on ownership" inspired the album title. That lyric felt like an important mantra to hold on to, both as it relates to relationships, but also to music, where the word "ownership", especially for kids growing up idolizing the collectives and musical auteurs of the 2010s, seemed, for a time, like an incantation that could erase all the uncertainties of this path. Those uncertainties are still there, but they are now accompanied by the richness of our relationships as collaborators.
The project was recorded at 25th St Studios in Oakland with Dirty Dave (Rico Nasty, Foushee), Stari (Safiyah Hernandez, Zyah Belle) Oliver Cooper (Michi, Rosa Linn), and Javon Gant-Graham (Goldlink) contributing to the mixing, engineering, and production. To celebrate the release, we’ll be playing a show in LA opened by Marco Mckinnis, who we collaborated with years ago when we were both starting out.
mollywithcharles@gmail.com