Nashville-based singer-songwriter Nived recently released his self-titled debut EP, a collection of four tracks merging savors of emo-hip-hop, alternative, and dark electro-pop.
Nived describes his sound as “2000s alternative/emo music, dark pop with modern production.”
Going on, he explains, “What’s special about the Nived musical persona I’ve created is that it truly showcases the sum of all of my musical influences while showcasing it to the audience in a way that is a different than other artists. This EP reflects where I am as an artist and person because after all these years of working, I’ve finally developed into the artist I want to be, telling the story I want to tell. There’s a sense of emotional honesty while implementing the anger and frustration that life gives to the songs – all while capturing the musical atmosphere and images that match that.”
Growing up, Nived listened to beaucoup emo/hardcore and pop music, followed by playing guitar in a series of bands in high school and attending Middle Tennessee State University, where he studied audio production. One day, he achieved a personal epiphany, a clarifying cusp of transition that releases his creativity, allowing him to pursue the music welling up from inside.
“I began taking music more seriously in college, where I also studied songwriting,” he shares. “After years of playing music with others, I found myself out of options. I knew I had to do my own thing apart from the shallow persona and entitled aesthetic that marks so much music here.”
“See” opens on emerging gleaming synths and guitars riding an emo-trap-lite rhythm, as dark pop flavors intertwine in layers overhead. Simultaneously elusive and tantalizing, the melody exudes pervasive trembling textures with stridently chiming accents, infusing the music with urgent textures.
“Shame” travels on low-slung industrial emo colors supported by a taut thumping kick-drum, as Nived’s passionate grainy tones imbue the lyrics with vibrating vulnerability, as platinum vocal harmonies give the tune tender yearning essence.
“You can drag this out forever / Girl cause I ain’t got no shame.”
“Cry” features a measured melancholic guitar atop a throbbing, stuttering groove, while Nived’s voice injects the lyrics with surging emotional turbulence, as he confronts his confusing thoughts and feelings.
“Can we skip the part / Where you break my heart / And tell me I’ll be fine?”
“Shadow,” my favorite track on the EP, delivers trickling spectral layers of color, quivering with intimate pressure and glistening delicate tension of overwhelming assertion. Pregnant with opaque surfaces, this track is thick with imminent tumescent emotions.
Nived heaves with sinuous emo aromas flavored with cool, stylish pop inflections, all crowned by Nived’s deliciously redolent voice.
