Raving since she was 16 and first dabbling in production with a downloaded crack version of Logic when she was 17, 20-year-old Nia Archives follows her hypnotic and escapist debut single ‘Sober Feels’ with her latest offering ‘Headz Gone West’ as she announces her forthcoming debut EP of the same moniker. Due for release Thursday 29th April, ‘Headz Gone West’ will comprise five singles including new unheard tracks ‘(Over) Thinking,’ ‘Crossroads,’ and ‘Don’t Kid Yourself.’ Alongside today’s news, she continues to cement her visual identity with a Delphino Productions-directed video for the title track ‘Headz Gone West.’
Following Nia and a friend on their journeys and having a laugh around the London underground, ‘Headz Gone West’ is a DIY, VHS montage style video that harks back to the late 80s/early 90s rave scene – a quintessentially British scene and culture that Nia is so inspired by both sonically and visually.
Speaking on the track and EP, Nia says: “Making the EP was super fun! I had a little DIY set up in my room and I would sit up all night making loads of quick beats for fun… some of them I would end up proper vibesing to and so kept working on them. Overall the project is massively inspired by my love for breakbeats, jungle, and DnB – and ‘Headz Gone West’ is the second track I wrote for it straight after ‘Sober Feels’.”
Hailing from London via Manchester and Leeds, Nia Archives is a producer, singer-songwriter, visual artist, and DJ who crafts cutting-edge lo-fi jungle with a refreshingly contemporary feel from her DIY bedroom studio setup. Making euphoria-inducing, club-ready production self-described as a “bit of a melting pot” – Nia fuses different sounds together with a production style that is heavily influenced by everything from UK rave and dance culture such as old skool jungle, hardcore, UKG, and dubstep, as well as gospel, soul, R&B, and jazz. As aesthetically driven as she is sonically, Nia’s is most inspired by and identifies with the imperfect old-skool grit of rave tapes from the late 80s and early 90s – giving her an undeniably and instantly recognizable retro aesthetic and signature purple hue.
A proud young British black woman of Jamaican heritage, she is heavily influenced by soundsystem culture and carnival – the good vibes, energy, and uniting quality of which undeniably teems through her music. She’s inspired by artists and icons like Erykah Badu, Angela Davies, Lauryn Hill, Nina Simone, Maya Angelou, and more – all women who in their own way have represented and pushed forwards generations of black women.
Working with the likes of Redlight, Jakwob, IZCO, V Recordings, and more, and getting the nod from electronic tastemaker DJ Mag as one of their Cheeky Bubblers after the first single, the future is bright for this exciting new artist on the jungle and drum & bass scene who is working on her debut EP.