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)
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O.G. G-Man cameo co-sign at the start of this tune:
