Life always offers choices. Therefore, a person can always decide for themselves: to forgive or seek revenge, to act or flee, to rejoice or drown in sorrow, to love or hate… The key is to act consciously, as inaction grants anyone the right to decide your life, except yourself.

This philosophy defines the creative path of Paul Nourigat—a performer whose biography reads like a novel about the search for identity. Before reaching adulthood, he changed several countries and about twenty homes—circumstances that transformed him into a chronicler of human destinies, an observer with heightened sensitivity to the details of others’ lives.

These wanderings became the foundation for rich creative material that formed the basis of his compositions. But the true inspiration emerges from the central fact of his biography: Paul Nourigat began his journey to the big stage at age 60. As the performer himself jokes, he gave himself a used guitar as a birthday present and decided to take the risk. This choice—bold, daring, bordering on absurd—deserves respect and admiration. In an era when even young artists with powerful industry support remain paralyzed by fears and prejudices, Nourigat committed an act of pure rebellion against conventions.

Curious Directions, Nourigat’s sixth album, releases on October 24, and I can already describe it as a reflection of a mature man on the very structure of choice—an album-investigation into the dichotomy of will: what a person chooses, and what chooses the person. By his sixth record, Nourigat has refined his approach to a crystalline clarity, deploying fifteen tracks to unfold this intriguing theme through the prism of personal experience, transforming a philosophical question into sensory experience. Where earlier work hinted at these concerns, this album confronts them directly, with the confidence of an artist who has earned the right to speak plainly about complexity.

“Curious Directions” opens the album with the soft melodicism of an introduction, which serves merely as a prologue to the main event—Nourigat’s vocals. Here emerges a unique combination: strength intersects with hope, light curiosity borders on mockery, challenge sounds in every syllable. The sound treatment emphasizes raw authenticity—the voice sounds natural, without excessive effects, creating an atmosphere of warm intimacy. “Sliding Side To Side” instantly captures the space with vocals—here Paul controls the dynamics with surgical precision. The power of the voice transforms into an invitation to change, a light bitterness hints at human inertia in the face of possibilities. The verse speaks of those frozen in inaction, while the chorus bursts in with a sharp wave of hope, asserting the inevitability of transformation. This composition works like a powerful stream of water, washing away fears and indecision, forcing you to look back and honestly ask yourself: is this the life I dreamed of?

“Tunes In My Mind” radically shifts register—here is time for dancing, while reflection retreats. The vigorous dialogue of guitar and drums creates the illusion of a bright carnival, where the joy of movement becomes the only imperative. The melody dynamically varies tempo from slow to moderately fast, allowing the body to fully immerse in this sonic celebration. Nourigat understands the importance of respite in conceptual storytelling—sometimes you just need to move. “Pleasant Bruises” crashes down like a bucket of cold water after the euphoria of dance, returning the listener to the space of harsh reality. The moderately dark melody fuses with the vocals into a unified whole—here it becomes impossible to separate instrumental and voice, they constitute a monolith of meaning. The track compels you to push aside illusions and look directly at problems, acknowledging that transformation requires sacrifices. The process will be difficult and painful, you’ll have to abandon familiar comfort—but precisely this surgery is necessary for moving forward. Nourigat speaks the truth about the cost of change.

“Takes Guts To Change” drives you into a foot-stomping country western rhythm, where momentum take over completely. Philosophical reflections here dissolve in pure kinetic energy—the body demands movement, the mind liberates itself from the burden of heavy thoughts. At the same time, the track charges you with that positivity and motivation catastrophically lacking in moments of existential deadlock, when it’s unclear where to go, which decision to make, when you want to abandon everything and surrender. Thank you, Paul Nourigat, for this generous gift—an injection of pure life force. “Old Friend Jo” is a fun, uptempo track celebrating the daily ritual of chasing that perfect cup of coffee. The song bubbles with energy and playful rhythm, capturing the small, relatable struggle of getting your “Jo” on time—basically, a musical ode to surviving mornings without looking like a zombie on a tight deadline.

“Bit Loose and Carefree” closes the album with a synthesis of vigor and the light sadness of parting—one page of life concludes, the necessity arises to move forward. The harmonica emphasizes the emotional coloring, creating a sonic boundary between the beautiful past and bright hope for the future. Nourigat delivers sadness with the mastery of an experienced storyteller—here there’s no room for tears. The past, which must be left behind, evokes a smile of gratitude for experience and knowledge. The finale sounds like reconciliation with time, acceptance of the inevitability of change through the prism of wisdom.

Curious Directions by Paul Nourigat represents a rare gem in contemporary music. Each track opens the possibility to dive into yourself, understand the reasons for your choices, and timely correct the course, returning to the road that truly calls. Nourigat chose a complex strategy for presenting material—balancing between modernity and retro aesthetics, which makes the album virtually timeless. He maintained the fine line beyond which retro stylistics could have suffocated the living material, turning it into a nostalgic artifact. Instead, Nourigat transformed vintage elements into organic facets of his creative statement, capable of resonating with a person of any age: from teenager to pensioner.

For me, Curious Directions functions as a treasure box where you can always find a track corresponding to the mood of the soul in a particular moment. This is a rare quality—to create an album of such emotional flexibility and depth. Nourigat’s large-scale creative work dismantles the myth that artistic vitality expires with youth: here stands definitive proof that true art emerges from the courage to act against conventional timelines. His late-career emergence reads as a pointed rebuke to an industry obsessed with prodigies and debut ages, while his peers occupy themselves with legacy tours and retrospectives. Nourigat chooses creation over nostalgia, risk over safety, becoming over being.

*This review was made possible by SubmitHub