Nia Archives – Silence Is Loud
Nia Archives’ debut album is densely dedicated to a single feel, through ideas both thick and thin
Every neuron in my head is malleable to even the most subtle of pressure, and all of them know the beat goes on. Silence Is Loud is tailor-made to test one’s resistance to a global groove, pumping acid and sunshine in the veins of drum'n'bass; it’s an intoxication that one grows a surprising tolerance against as the tracklist progresses. The initial Wonka steamboat tunnel of death which is the record’s introduction grows closer to the Glasgow Wonka Experience by the umteenth speedy tick of a low-impact hi-hat.
The central contradiction of Nia Archives' debut album is that the record is structured like a dependable, steady flow of rhythmic chaos, proving that any idea is stretched thin the eleventh time one does it. In bursts, however, Silence Is Loud is a high-definition shotgun blast of pure UV-radiation.
Archives acts as a mediating presence in the mix, gliding atop the bustle and stringing together melodies and earwoom hooks as if she was speedrunning the songwriting process, and doing it well (enough). Unfortunately, it seems like the record's runtime was set before material was allotted to the space, unleashing a high-octane sugar rush in a space fit to dilute it into the unbearableness of being palatable. There are worse things.
Listen to: Silence Is Loud, Cards On the Table, So Tell Me…