Dua Saleh’s ‘Of Earth & Wires’ provides solace in turbulent times

Sudanese-American musician Dua Saleh ‘s debut album, 2024’s ‘I Should Call Them’ , chronicled a queer romance set against a backdrop of dystopia and repression globally. The former NME Cover star ’s second outing, ‘Of Earth & Wires’, is similarly conceptual, their preoccupations with turmoil, climate crisis and AI on full display. Yet, this second album also captures Saleh coming into their own as an art- pop star – putting the metaphysical into message music.

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On ‘Of Earth & Wires’, Saleh’s perspective is that of a displaced person, seemingly drawn from their own experience migrating to the US as a child refugee when their ethnic Tunjur Muslim family fled Sudan’s civil war. It opens with the break-up song ‘5 Days’ – acoustic guitar strums giving way to industrial percussion and Saleh’s punk hollering, recalling their 2023 loosie ‘Daylight Falls’. Progressive R&B often accentuates aesthetics, experimentation and expression over ‘songs’ – and that was often the case with Saleh’s earlier textural output. However, their songcraft has since assumed form.

As auteur, Saleh’s curation is a communal affair. For ‘I Should Call Them’, they solicited artists who share an affinity for experimental R&B and pop paradigms to collaborate with, such as Gallant and Serpentwithfeet. Saleh continues that organic approach here with Iowan Billy Lemos ( SZA ) as executive producer, Sudanese-Dutch R&B singer Gaidaa and Bon Iver frontman Justin Vernon . The latter appears across three songs, but the sublime folkie ‘Keep Away’, which brings to mind work by The Doobie Brothers ’ Michael McDonald, is a standout.

The musician foregrounds their diasporic heritage on the nostalgic ‘I Do, I Do’, embellished with the Arabic oud, prominent in Sudanese folk tradition, and bearing an ominous idiom ( “He who makes some poison / Licks their fingers” ). But the song also pays stylistic tribute to Saleh’s adopted Minnesotan hometown, echoing the ’80s Minneapolis sound of Jimmy Jam & Terry Lewis , who famously teamed up with Janet Jackson on her 1986 album ‘Control’. Saleh’s vocals even have Jackson’s distinctive breathiness.

Saleh saves their biggest proclamation for last: ‘All Is Love’, with breezy whistling and a wry lyrical reference to trauma ( “Anyway PTSD made me wanna forget it” ), is a glitchy paean to idealism in the face of humanitarian suffering. She’s then joined by Grammy-nominated jazz poet Aja Monet, who intones: “The rib of laughter / Echoes of breath / Your voice survives all others / Like a draft of breeze in the veins.”

On ‘Of Earth & Wires’, Saleh reveals a new resoluteness as a singer-songwriter, fully embracing pop but without abandoning their experimental curiosity. Above all, they’re using pop as a medium to further advocate for social equality and justice. Indeed, with their ambitious future grooves, Saleh offers emotional salve for troubled times.

Details

- Record label: Ghostly International

- Release date: May 15, 2026

The post Dua Saleh – ‘Of Earth & Wires’ review: seeking love, hope and humanity in an age of conflict and disruption appeared first on NME .

_Originally reported by [NME](https://www.nme.com/reviews/album/dua-saleh-of-earth-wires-review-3945550?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=dua-saleh-of-earth-wires-review)._