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NNAMDÏ to kick off fall tour in Davenport

Chicago multi-instrumentalist and songwriter NNAMDÏ just released his new album "Please Have A Seat" on October 7 and is set to start his upcoming tour at Davenport venue Raccoon Motel on Tuesday, October 18.
Dennis Elliott
Chicago multi-instrumentalist and songwriter NNAMDÏ just released his new album "Please Have A Seat" on October 7 and is set to start his upcoming tour at Davenport venue Raccoon Motel on Tuesday, October 18.

Chicago DIY artist NNAMDÏ just released his sixth LP, “Please Have A Seat,” on Oct. 7. His upcoming fall tour will begin with a show at Raccoon Motel in Davenport on Tuesday, Oct. 18.

Nnamdi Ogbonnaya, known by his stage moniker NNAMDÏ, has been writing, recording, and releasing his own brand of indie pop since 2013. He’s been called a veteran of the Chicago DIY scene.

“A veteran? That makes me seem old as hell!” NNAMDÏ exclaimed. Yet, his new album “Please Have A Seat,” is full of fresh new music that reflects on his experiences.

“A lot of it has to do with me kind of getting older and more mature and being able to recognize moments in my life that were important, and just taking time to look at accomplishments that I've been through or moments of clarity anytime, where I've could really like, stop and you know, take in everything that was going on,” NNAMDÏ said. “It just kind of documents all these moments through the past few years for me.”

NNAMDÏ has released four music videos for songs from the new album, including the single “Anti.” The “Anti” music video begins with NNAMDÏ as a floundering costumed entertainer at a child’s birthday party.

“For the intro, there’s this old YouTube video of Elmo at a kid’s birthday party. [...] It looks like a B-side Elmo, like it’s just some dude in the hood in an Elmo costume that I have always really loved,” NNAMDÏ explained.

“The whole song and video are kind of about acknowledging maybe these things in your life or upbringing that you didn't know affected you in a certain way until you got older. You're like looking back and kind of dissecting your habits and decisions you make. And so the mascot kind of represents this B-side, off brand, kind of like, muppet looking creature where you're kind of looking at something from a certain perspective and then you realize once you get closer, like, “Oh, this is not really what I thought it was.”

The lead single from the new record was “I Don’t Wanna Be Famous,” a tongue-in-cheek track about the ups and downs of fame.

“I wrote that song just thinking about the possibilities of being a public performer, and just the idea of celebrity in general and how ridiculous it is,” NNAMDÏ said. “I’m kind of saying that I don't want these things, but then listing all the things that kind of come with fame, like, saying I want them, which is accurate and it's realistic. It's just like, having access to resources, especially being an artist, you want the resources to make art at whatever level you imagine in your head. [...] Those are things that I feel like I would like to have to be able to share with other people as well.”

NNAMDÏ is no stranger to the Iowa stage, having played the 80/35 Music Festival in 2018 and a previous show at Raccoon Motel with the band Ratboys. He will be kicking off his fall tour of the Midwest and East Coast at Raccoon Motel, then traveling to cities like Philadelphia and Montreal.

Tickets for the Tuesday, October 18 show in Davenport are available now on Tixr. The new album “Please Have A Seat” is available now on Secretly Canadian and NNAMDÏ’s own record label, Sooper Records.

Cece Mitchell is a Music Producer for IPR