Here's Kieran Press-Reynolds at Pitchfork on Silence Is Loud, the debut album by Nia Archives
Love the Columbo sample!
Another highlight acc. to K P-R
The name "Archives" - her chosen artistic alias, how bizarre would it be if it was her actual birth name! - is intriguing given the historical nature of the genre she has brought back to delicious life.
Here's what I said about her in my 'Faves of 2022'
A contemporary artist! But one whose work puts into question the whole idea of "the contemporary". My kid Kieran put me onto this. I'm slightly suspicious of my own enjoyment, given that (like PinkPantheress) this is a young woman making jungle and drum & bass - a genre-era I’ve investments in, you've probably noticed. Beyond my own nostalgia, there’s also a lingering doubt about whether it’s a healthy development for youth today to be making music whose historical heyday was 27 years ago. Even the thing of having her own smoky vocals and songs weaving through it isn’t a totally fresh development (hello Nicolette).
But it is absolutely gorgeous stuff – my favorite is probably “Forbidden Feelings” but it’s all very enjoyable. You can hear the whole lot of it here on this YouTube playlist I made or with better sound and in chronological sequence (although she's only been at it for a little over a year as far as I can tell) in my Tidal playlist (I don’t think you need to be a subscriber)
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
O.G. G-Man cameo co-sign at the start of this tune:
5 comments:
the vocals make it a unique album, without them it would be a quite ordinary jungle, but the vocals are horrible.
Yes I must say I didn't love this album - the vocals have this sour-sweet thing going on that is a/ a bit samey after a while and b/ just a little too sour.
And the beats seem samey, as though the need to have them work with songs has prevented any kind of real rinse-out moments - so they just chug along supportively. they became a kind of pizza crust.
Sorry to disappoint you - her name is Dehaney Nia Lishahn Hunt
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nia_Archives
Maybe I am the only person that thinks this, but her vocals remind me strongly of Martina Topley-Bird.
I hear echoes of Lily Allen a bit, too. The album notes on Apple Music explain quite a lot about her sound now: she references Blur, Oasis, Radiohead, and the f’ing Kings Of Leon.
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