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Blissful Madness: Under that wonderful album name, Nuela Charles has just released a new three-song EP — featuring the high-soaring, ridiculously catchy song Space. Charles directed, amazingly lit and edited the video for Space in her apartment, shooting it with her iPhone, just such a great song. As for the project goes, Charles notes, “Blissful Madness is a musical snapshot that was started before the pandemic, but was finished, thankfully, well into the lockdown. I wanted to tell the story of all of the emotions one can feel in 24 hours. Whether it be, sassy and strong, to loving and endearing, or ‘don’t try me,’ testy vibes – it’s all the feels wrapped up in three songs. This EP is more soulful sonically and allowed me to experiment vocally as I discovered new textures and tones in my voice.” Buy the music at nuelachales.com.
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Details: Now play on Nuela Charles’ YouTube channel, no charge
Local writer wins big: Poet and University of Alberta associate professor Iman Mersal has just won the international Sheikh Zayed Book Award for her written-in-Arabic book In the Footsteps of Enayat Al-Zayyat, a mix of investigative journalism and storytelling to illuminate writer Enayat al Zayat’s struggles with mental health — she committed suicide in 1963 — uncovering the roots of a woman’s search for identity in contemporary Arab society. The award comes with a $200,000 USD prize, and will now be translated into English — but the book is currently available in French. There’s also a podcast on the subject in Arabic at sowt.com.

Details: Buy online in French as Sue les Traces d’Enayet el-Zayyat
Lapsis (2019): Called “a smart class-conscious sci-fi parable” by The Hollywood Reporter, Director Noah Hutton’s Lapsis is a darkly comic and timely look at the gig economy and the failed utopian promises of big tech. Looks like an especially fun episode of Black Mirror, so of course: also terrifying.
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Details: Streaming through May 14 at metrocinema.org, $6.99