Producer, DJ and Envelope Audio label boss Nikki Pryke released her debut album, Connection, via the imprint on November 24th, 2023. A prolific figure in Stockholm’s music scene, Nikki Pryke has previously worked under the alias Lioness which has seen her DJ alongside the likes of Ron Trent and Âme and offer a variety of material, from techno to ambient and beyond. Under her own name, she is exploring new audio avenues and featuring her celestial vocals in her music. Heavily influenced by electronic pop from the 80s and 90s, the nine-track collection offers a variety of styles, leaning towards pop, nu-disco and indie, lyrically exploring a range of themes under the broad umbrella of love and connection.
Hello Nikki Pryke, thanks for taking the time to speak with us here at Reverbs, we’ve been listening to your upcoming album titled Connection, for those people yet to hear it could you tell us a bit about this project and how it all came together?
Well, in a way it’s an album that is almost thirty years in the making. Long before getting into the club scene, I was a music nerd of huge proportions and composed my own tunes on piano and guitar. I studied music hard during my teenage years – not so much in the traditional theoretical way, but analyzing sounds, compositions, being endlessly fascinated by what composes an emotive soundscape. The tunes written in my early years stayed in the drawer though, and a few years later, I started out as a DJ and naturally gravitated towards making club music instead, all the while continuing to uphold my love for all kinds of music. A few years ago the pull to write “real” songs emerged again and I thought to myself, “one day maybe I’ll make an EP”. Enter my musician friend and co-producer to this album) Victoria Moralez, who I mentioned the idea to, who then promptly insisted I should make an album instead. I was shit scared but at the same time intrigued by the idea, and started writing songs to complete the album.
You’re usually releasing material under the name The Lioness which gravitates more towards Techno and Electronica. This album expresses a whole different side to your musicality with elements of 80’s Pop, New Age and more as noted in the press release. What made you make the move towards these other genres and to create and album with this sound?
Like I mentioned above, it was a very natural pull from within, almost a need, to express my love for music in a broader sense. Over the years I’ve collected inspiration from a broad spectrum of music, and somehow all that input needed to be digested and transformed into something tangible. I think I’m also a naturally restless person, I need new stimulation and input regularly to keep my creative spark alive. Hence my inability to stick to any genre, ever, haha!
You’re a native of the Swedish capital of Stockholm, could you tell us a bit about your roots in music there and some of the elements of the scene that have played a vital role to your becoming a musician yourself?
That’s a great question! I’ve been lucky enough to grow up in a city with quite a vibrant music scene, and through the years I’ve been delving into a plethora of different parts of that scene. In my teens I was heavily into indie, grunge and college rock, leading me to zigzag my way between live concerts, in mostly small-to medium sized venues. During my early twenties I explored a lot of live jazz, R&B, soul and hip hop leading me into DJing in my mid-20s, when I quite quickly evolved into 70’s and 80’s disco, boogie and contemporary house (at the time heavily influenced by the former two genres which I found very inspiring at the time). To summarize, I think during a period of ten years or so I probably explored most genres within popular western music (save for death metal and reggae, will have to put them on my to-do list haha), which had a huge impact – although maybe not always overtly – on the music that I started creating in the following years.
The Connection project embraces a variety of textures from your own ethereal vocal style to emotive piano melodies and synthesizers. Could you tell us a bit about what was used to construct the album and when it was made?
Most of the songs were written around new years ’21/’22. I finalized demos in my home studios (including very rudimentarily recorded vocal takes on my iPhone) in January 2022 and started recording vocals in Victoria’s studio shortly thereafter. In discussion with her, the productions grew, bringing in live musicians on some of the tracks (like drums from legendary Swedish drummer Morgan Ågren on ‘Fear & Freedom’ and ‘Hey boy’, bass from Hampus Lundgren of the Swedish band Hoffmaestro & Chraa on ‘Hey boy’, and piano from Andreas Saag on ‘Connection’). Apart from that, the productions are mostly built from software synths that have been tweaked into life with the help of various favorite effects in my DAW.
Are there any particular influences you would associate with particular tracks from the album? Or is there a general influential theme that you would says runs throughout the project?
I was heavily inspired by the sound of Depeche Mode around the time of their SOFAD (1993) album while recording, but I think in general this whole project is a sonic embodiment of the music I listened to during some very musically formative years in my teens, mostly electronic music but also British and American indie pop/rock. It was in a way a catharsis to make this album in that sense, a totally joyful catharsis!
Following the release of this album, what’s next for you, will there be more material surfacing under your own name and more embracing of this new musical direction or will we see a return to Techno and The Lioness biting back for a while?
That’s another great question, for the time being I am really enjoying this new direction and my newfound confidence in my ability to actually craft “real songs” again. Saying that, I am already starting two new more electronic/instrumental collaborations, so who knows? Let’s see!
Anything else you’d like to share with us? Could you recommend us one thing that you’ve discovered recently that’s brought you joy, maybe a new musical discovery or anything beyond that, a new book, film, recipe, place or anything else?
Oh, I love getting and giving music recommendations, so I’m happy to share a couple of newish albums that have been on repeat during the past months for me. I really love Alaskan Tapes’ Who Tends a Garden, a very tender and organically-infused ambient album laced with piano and guitar throughout. Simply beautiful and such a soothing listen! I also really enjoyed the Icelandic singer/songwriter JFDR’s latest album. I love her very personal vocal expression on top of the both expressive and restrained sonic “electronic folk music” landscape created by the artist in collaboration with Josh Wilkinson. Both albums are well worth a listen! Oh, and I recently got hooked on Peter Gabriel‘s epic album So again, can’t resist the ever inspiring soundscapes of Daniel Lanois and the depths of Peter’s songwriting. Bliss!
Thanks for talking with us, we are excited for the world to connect with your new album 🙂
Follow Nikki Pryke:
Spotify – Apple Music – Youtube – Instagram
