With the critically acclaimed April release of her debut LP Silence Is Loud, Nia corrals disparate feelings of identity and situationship-fueled angst into infectiously danceable beats, culminating into exploding “My ex ain’t shit” moments and euphoric dancefloor catharsis. As a result, Nia has been skipping from country to country on a never-ending bender of performances, delivering literally floor-shaking sets at 170 BPM breakbeat-like speeds.
We had the chance to catch up with Nia at the tail end of May, just before she embarked on her long Great Junglist Summer tour. We discussed Amy Winehouse comparisons, taking a British sound worldwide, and wanting to call New York home when it’s all said and done.
Jack Kissane— During your United States mini-tour, you stopped twice in Brooklyn where I saw you at Elsewhere’s rooftop, and at one point during the show, one of my neighbors was like, ‘Oh my gosh, the floor is a trampoline.' Did you hear about that?
Nia Archives— Yeah, I heard the floor was bouncing! [Laughs]
At that show you mentioned that it was your first time playing Silence Is Loud across the pond in the U.S. What was it like finally bringing your new material to a fresh audience?
Yeah, it was really cool, you know. This American trip felt so different from when I've been before. I don’t know if it is just because I've released an album recently, but it just felt super different and I felt like my music was connecting with people a bit more than it ever has. I've been to America three times. That was my fourth time, and it just felt like [audiences] were finally understanding the tunes and stuff and they were really receptive to it. So it was really cool. It was really nice to play out all this music that I've been working on for so long as well.
That project has really been soundtracking my summer so far through good times and bad. Like it really might be the quintessential crying in the club soundtrack for me. More than that, though, I love how you pair these fast-paced production with the serenity of your vocals and reflective lyrics. Was there a specific moment or song you made where it all clicked for you?
Yeah, I'll probably say I made my first tune actually, "Sober Feels," I'd made a couple of tunes that were similar vibes, but they were more production vibes and I wasn't really singing as much. I made "Sober Feels" in 2020 during the lockdown, and I have a really weird process of writing songs. I don't really write to jungle, which is weird because I make jungle, but I write to slow beats, and then I'll remix my own songs basically. And I've always liked making quite emotional music, but I didn't want to be an emotional artist. I didn't want to make deep songs because I didn't want to be at a gig and everyone's just crying to my music. That's just not my vibe. I want to dance to my music. So it was a really conscious decision to make dance music and I love jungle, so that melancholy jungle vibe just felt right for me and how I wanted to express myself.
That's so interesting! So essentially, you're remixing your own tracks like a Junglist DJ would remix a club hit to make it jungle?
Yeah, pretty much! It's a fun process. It allows me to focus on one thing at a time with the songwriting and drums because in my brain they’re like two separate things. That's always just been the way that I've gone about it really.
As a self-proclaimed emotional journalist, you harness themes of being misunderstood, feeling lonely, and dealing with heartbreak into these incredibly addictive and infectiously danceable tracks and you perform them so jovially with your arms swinging in the air and all that. Does performing these tunes provide a feeling of catharsis? And does it help you confront those hard-to-process feelings?
I think so, yeah. I think I'm an emotional person, but I'm not really an outwardly emotional person unless you catch me on a bad day. [Laughs] So I think music is kind of my way of expressing myself and just putting those tough emotions somewhere and it's kind of productive because if I'm feeling shit or whatever, I at least get a song out of it, and wasn’t just feeling shit. So that's kind of why I've always gone for that. And I really admire Amy Winehouse. She's a huge inspiration to me as a songwriter, and I love how she's got these really dark lyrics, really sad stories on these really happy beats. You wouldn't know it was such a deep song unless you really tapped into what she's actually saying. So there's definitely some inspiration there as well.
How does it feel to be at the forefront of the revival of a genre like jungle that is so quintessentially a part of your British culture's DNA?
It's weird. I don't really feel like I'm at the forefront or reviving anything. I think my view on it is just genuinely, I feel like I'm just pushing [Jungle music] forward. I feel like this music has been around for so long, 30 years, it's been thriving in the UK underground scene and it's definitely had its crossover moments. But I think for something to exist for so long, there's always got to be young people that come and then they make their sound and then they introduce it to their age group and then the next age group. And I think I'm just part of the next generation of junglist pushing it forward, but then there'll be another generation younger than me. It's just the cycle, really.
Speaking of the next generation of Jungle music, how did you meet Dazegxd?
I met him at The Lot Radio show in 2020, maybe two years ago, I think now, or maybe a year and a half ago. And he came and he was stood outside with loads of his friends. I was like, ‘Oh, this is quite cool. I wasn't expecting anyone to be here.’ And then he gave me a USB and he said he really loved my tunes. I was like, okay, I'll listen to this USB. And then I heard that he was doing jungle bits and stuff. I was like, ‘Oh, that's really cool.’ He was like, 20 at the time, and I asked him, ‘So do you want to come to the club?’ And he was like, ‘I can't’ because obviously [the legal drinking age] in America is 21. I was like, ‘Oh fuck I forgot about that!’ But I connected with him. I thought he was really cool. He also looks exactly like my little brother, so I've had a little bit of an attachment to him since the first time I met him, which is weird. [Laughs] But he's accepted it, so it's all good.
I just had a bit of a soft spot for him, and then we just kept staying in contact over the last couple of years. And then at the end of last year I was playing at the Knockdown Center. I got him on The Lot Radio at my Up Your Archives show. And then I got him to play at the show as well. And he just came to London recently and he literally was hanging out with all my friends and he's just basically my New York jungle cousin. So it's called just to support the young people in New York and support the American new-gen jungle scene as well. So yeah, I've got a soft spot for Daze for sure.
British culture is so immediately apparent across your art’s expression spanning from medium to medium. To what degree does being from England play into who you see in the mirror? And as a result, how does that affect your approach to production, songwriting, making visuals, et cetera?
I think it's definitely a huge part of my identity. I'm dual heritage, so growing up in England, half my family's English, half my family's Jamaican, so I kind of had those both cultures growing up. And I'm very proud of my heritage, to be honest with you. I'm really proud of where I'm from, growing up in the north of England as well. There's a lot of subcultures going on, you know what I mean?
So I'm really proud of being from Bradford and Leeds. I lived in Manchester and I think the UK's got so much rich culture, especially in terms of music. And I've definitely just been a bit of a sponge and just soaked it all up from Radiohead to Burial. And obviously people like Goldie, Lemon D, all the jungle artists I love, and the art as well. So much amazing art that's come out from the UK, just like I love all of it. So I'm just super inspired by it.
I know that you wrapped up your New York to LA tour playing the Lightning In A Bottle festival [in May]. How was your experience there and how are you planning on carrying out your Great Junglist Summer beyond that?
Yeah, it was super fun, actually. I felt like Lightning In A Bottle was actually a really cool festival. I thought it was really good vibes. Actually one of my favorite days, I think for a while, because I got to meet M.I.A. after her set. I watched her set from the crowd, which was so cool, because I like watching things from the crowd sometimes because you get to see the full production. It was one of the best sets I've ever seen in my life. I'd never seen a set of hers before. I was like, this is amazing. And then I got to meet her and obviously, she's such an inspiration to me. So that really topped off the festival experience and the show went really well, and it was really cool. I really enjoyed it. And we did a little party in downtown LA, which was super fun to cause a bit of chaos in LA as well. So that was really fun. But yeah, super excited for the summer, the Great Junglist Summer, starting this weekend, actually going to Ireland tomorrow morning. We're just going right back into it, but it should be fun.
That's awesome. Do you have a favorite city to play?
That’s a good question! I love New York. I want to live in New York like it’s definitely my favorite city in the world. I love Manchester. And I also love Tokyo in Japan. I really enjoy playing in Japan.
The EP feels like a long meditation, with each track carrying you to the next. Listening in different settings, I found it hard to pinpoint when one song ended and another began. Candace’s voice plummeted me deep into the valleys of her vocal cords, her vibrations lifting me back up through layers of sound and instrumentation.
Returning from a summer in Berlin, Candace seemed to be adjusting back into normal life. Much of the mind is a miracle was created there, in what she describes as an “unofficial residency.” Working with her bandmate Noah Becker and other artists, she expanded on the EP’s original demos, welcoming new ideas and perspectives.
As Candace spoke about her summer and the people she worked with, it was clear they hold a special corner of her heart. The collaborators were the driving inspiration for the mind is a miracle, with many songs “starting with people in a room rather than in creative isolation.” Candace started playing the songs live while on tour with Crumb, sampling her own performances to inform and shape the final tracks.
I admired how easily Candace embraced the shifts in her creative process — creating only when it felt right and letting go of expectations. Taking a bite of a pot sticker, she said, “It's so beautiful how we can work on something for a long time and see the many shapes it could take.”
Listening to the mind is a miracle, you can sense that organic evolution. Candace perfectly matched up different elements and sounds over time. From a recording of her best friend making breakfast to layers of a harmonizing bassoon, the EP feels like a long-form journal entry, capturing Candance’s life, mindset, and experiences over the four years it took to develop.
When I asked Candace the ideal setting for listeners to hear the EP, she responded with, “Honestly, I don't know if this music is listenable. You gotta be in the mood for it.” I beg to differ, but also love her answer. What the mind is a miracle offers is a different kind of listening experience that changes over time, whether it's through live performances or listeners’ personal perspectives.
In that way, the mind is a miracle feels timeless, forever morphing with intention.
Beginning with the spirited pysch-rock guitar intro of “GETTING IT IN,” the chameleonic album progresses with Mercury’s poised flow through trap-heavy beats, smooth 90s keys, and a lot of samples. She’s shown a nearly peerless grasp on genre from early on, but she somehow ups her game even more on this project. Having already sampled everything from Stereolab to Yung Lean in the past, MERCZONE features reworked tracks from Bon Iver and Tennis. The effect is erratic but conceptually sound, the disparate range of sounds — either somewhat retained or chopped up until they’re nearly unrecognizable — mimicking the experience of being someone who’s spent a lot of time online, listening to music. There’s no need to worry with Mercury serving as our guide through what could otherwise be a potential heap of sonic spam. She’s already meticulously curated the sound—and the perfect party playlist — for us.
You first entered music through the internet. You’ve mentioned before that, at one point, your entire social life was on the internet and that meme culture was your life. Does the internet still have a big influence on your music?
Mercury— Yes, because I discover so much music through the internet. My YouTube algorithm will suggest random albums that aren't on streaming platforms. I mostly listen to music on the internet, unless it’s my physical copies of things, but I find new and even old music through the internet. It’s constantly inspiring me. I also rap about stuff that I see happening on the internet because it relates to my life sometimes.
What things that you see online?
Damn, I knew you was finna ask that. [Laughs] There’s this song by me and BbyAfricka that’s not out yet, but in it I say, “I got 32 golds in my mouth, I’m smiling big, like Tia Kemp.” Tia Kemp is Rick Ross’ baby mama who has veneers and is smiling all the time. I was like, okay, that’s kind of giving! [Laughs]
[Laughs] You’re an avid music listener, which comes across in your sampling. I love your Stereolab sample, and I noticed that you sampled “Rosyln,” the Bon Iver and St. Vincent song from New Moon, on “HIGH2GETBY.” The first question is, are you a Twilight fan?
Well, yes, as of recently. The first time I saw any Twilight movie was this year, maybe two or three months ago. I already knew the song, though, from listening to music as a kid. I already knew the song, but then I saw Twilight, and I was like, oh, this is giving. At first, I was like, this is so boring, then I was like, ooh, it’s messy, I like it.
Are most of the samples that you use earworms first?
Yeah, they’re just really my favorite songs. Even the sample I used on “MIRACLE,” was one of my favorite songs. For a long time, I would just be playing, replaying, replaying, and replaying that song. I sampled it three times before I finally got to that beat. I sampled it with some other homies trying to figure it out, but when I chopped it up with [Nephew] Hesh, it went crazy. The jerky beat meshes with that song so well.
Your approach to genre also is pretty unorthodox, which matches the variance of your taste. The opening song of MERCZONE even has this really powerful electric guitar chord sequence. You’ve mentioned in the past that you wanted to release rock music under an alias. Is this your way of releasing rock music?
I lied about the alias shit, it’s just going to be me. [Laughs] When I first was making MERCZONE — it wasn’t called MERCZONE yet — it was a rock album. I wasn’t able to continue to make the songs that I wanted to because I was making them out of town. It was limited time. I was like, damn, if I'm going to continue this project, I need to do something else to be able to work with other people. I still wanted to keep that element and kept that specific song. I felt that it translated well. It was still rock-like, but it was also some shit that you could just vibe to. I felt like my cousins could listen to that and really fuck with it. Somebody like my mom, people who wouldn't usually gravitate towards my music, would still fuck with it because it rides. After I realized that I wasn't going to go completely rock, I was really sporadic but I wanted it to sonically flow.
So you started recording the project out of town?
The first song I made for the project might have been “PHAT PACK,” but that I recorded in Atlanta. Most of the songs I recorded out of town because I was just hella inspired out of town, and I started working with Mikey Freedom Hart in New York. He produced “GETTING IT IN.” It was our first or second time hooking up, but we had hella chemistry and we were making some great ass songs.
I recorded “INFLUENCER BAG” in Atlanta, but I started working on the beat in New York. My friend Glen [the Saiyan] made it. That was also a sample I sent him. I was listening to hella video game soundtracks and I found that sample.
I was working on the last half of my project in LA and was really on a bender for a month. I left the crib four times out of the whole month. For “BE BOPPIN,” Ethereal came into LA. They [Ethereal and Hesh] made that beat, and I hopped on it at night. We would make the beats and then at 3 or 4am, I would get fucked up and record all night.
So you worked with a lot of different people for this project?
Mhm, really all my homies, though, all people that I already knew or that I already worked with, except for Otis, MTRSPRT, and Mikey Freedom Hart. I’ve made a song on MTRSPRT’s beats before, but this is my first time releasing something with MTRSPRT. These are my homies. Even Shane [Mane], that's my dog. We talk all the time even though he lives in Germany and I’ve never met him.
You mentioned that you worked with Ethereal a few times on this project. Were you listening to Awful Records back in the day?
Hell yeah! When I was 15, I went to Afropunk and Father and Abra were performing. That lineup was crazy. It was Father, Abra, Tyler, the Creator, Earl Sweatshirt, Lion Babe, SZA, everybody before they blew up. Seeing that when I was 15 was life-changing.
I used to love Awful Records. Then, maybe in 2019 or 2020, I met Ethereal. Me and my friend Coco were at a show and we were too young to get in, so we went to the back of the club. This is crazy because this is the same club I’m finna do my show at in Atlanta. We were standing outside of the club by the back door waiting for somebody to come out and then Ethereal and Father come out. We were like, let’s take pictures, whatever. He followed me on Instagram, and a year later, he hit me being like, push up, and we made “PANKO.” Ever since then, we’ve just been cooking up. We have the same taste and he gets it. He really understands the shit I am trying to do. I really fuck with him. He looks out for me, he’s like a big brother to me.
Do you go out quite a bit?
I go out a little bit, not much in Atlanta, but when I'm out of town I go outside. Every year, I go to New York for MIKE’s Young World festival. Other than that, I’m just seeing my homies at their shows. I haven't really been out to a concert in a minute, other than MIKE, Young World, and Nicki Minaj’s concert. I would like to go out more but I just feel like I don’t see what's going on because I am lowkey a hermit sometimes.
Quite a bit has changed for you in the years since you released MERCTAPE. Has your relationship with making music changed from the early days?
I would say so, yes. I'm more dedicated and more intentional. I've started making beats more on my own. I’ve started making it my intention to hit people up to work and do sessions — and just creating an idea behind who I am musically and trying to figure out what direction I want to go toward because my ideas are always everywhere. I need to make something central, but also still be able to express myself how I want to.
I’m just navigating how I want to do that and putting more intention behind it because at first I was just making songs and now I’m making projects. I wasn’t really sure of where I was going when I was making MERCTAPE. That was just my first time realizing that this could be something. Now, I know I've built enough, I've shown myself enough to where I need to keep going, I need to be serious about it. It’s not just fun and games. At first, I was just making songs, hehe, haha, having a good time. I still love music, I still love making it, but this time I'm putting my all into it.
Has that required you to be more vulnerable in your music?
Well, actually, yes! Even with the creative process. Some of the songs I made in the studio around people, but some I made by myself, really fucked up. I was feeling mixed emotions because I was feeling lost and helpless but, at the same time, that motivated me to just go hard as fuck and really lock in. During the time period when I started making it, I had gone through some shit. I lost my crib, I couldn't keep my dog, it was a lot of shit — and I lost some friends and shit. It was just a lot that I was losing at that time, but I was also still able to travel and make music.
So I was like, okay, all this shit’s got to be happening for a reason. I'm very spiritual, like I said before. I just take everything that's hard — because I've had a series of unfortunate events in my life — as a test to lead you to the next step. I definitely did have a lot more vulnerability when I was making this project, but I didn’t… I put it in my songs but not really in a way that’s — I don't know, vulnerability doesn't have to necessarily be negative…
It doesn't always have to come across as sadness?
Yeah, but I was sad. I’m very much a daydreamer and when I’m making my music, I like to create the world that I want to live in, even if I'm not living it right now. Like this is what I feel like I deserve, this is what I feel like is fit for me. I’m putting this in my song because one day all this is going to be my reality. I make manifestation music for myself. It’s shit that’s related to me but at a different scale. Every time I do something, I want to level it up.
Are there specific spiritual practices or routines that you do when recording an album?
You wouldn’t see it as ritualistic but smoking and drinking definitely connect me to a different level. That's some spiritual shit to me. When I die, I want my lineage to come to my altar with some spliffs and some goddamn soju. I just do shit that makes me feel right in the moment. I like to do shrooms too and I like to do spells, but I don't like to share that in too much depth with the world. I take baths and herbal shit and just manifest and pray a lot. I talk to God, talk to my ancestors, and ask for guidance all the time. Even when I’m in the studio, stumped, I’m like, what should I say? Just asking the universe — and then shit just starts flowing. Everything is energy to me, and I feel like whatever you put out you can get back in. I do what works for me and what makes my life work out.
In the past, you’ve praised the idea of being a little bit delusional to build your own world and to realize the things that you want. What are some of your current delusions, or things that you want to keep in this delusional state?
I’ve definitely let go of expectations of what I want, but my delusions are to have a spot where I can just exist and create music every day and not have to work, not have to go to a job, not have to clock in because I'm so tired of that shit. Just being able to live off of my music, being able to be comfortable, being able to be more than comfortable. Being able to help out my family, people that I care about, and just keep making music and making a living off of it — that’s my current delusion.
And I want some nice cars and a bad bitch. I want a girlfriend and I want a boyfriend. A lot of money. And a farm with hella animals — or, not hella animals but a horse and maybe some chickens and a dogs. Those are my current delusions. I'm really just Southern as hell.
