Nested
Nested is the seventh studio album by Bronx-born singer, songwriter and pianist Laura Nyro, released in 1978 on Columbia Records. Following on from her extensive tour to promote 1976's
Smile, which resulted in the 1977 live album
Season of Lights, Nyro retreated to her new home in Danbury, Connecticut, where she lived after spending her time in the spotlight in New York City. Nyro had a studio built at her home, and recorded the songs that comprised
Nested there. The songs deal with themes such as motherhood and womanhood, and it is a notably more relaxed Nyro that sings on the album. The instrumentation is laidback and smooth, similar to that of
Smile, but perhaps less jazz-inspired and more melodic. Nyro was assisted in production by Roscoe Harring, while Dale and Pop Ashby were chief engineers. Critics praised the album as a melodic return to form, and Nyro supported the album with a solo tour when she was heavily pregnant with her son Gil, who was born two months after the album was released.