INTERVIEW WITH NIFTY | FIRST EP SUMMER '23
Q1. Introduce yourself, how would you describe yourself as a creative?
A. I'd like to think I'm a very colorful and saturated person with any medium I try to approach. I love richness whether that be in sound, color in a photo, it gives me a sense of comfortability and I try to reflect that in my work.
Q2. How did the switch between mediums work out (ie. photography to music)?
A. I always appreciated the music I listened to when I was younger and I'm glad I had my mom and other friends to show me cool sh*t in the early 2000's. I still love Four Tet, Lemon D, and Ananda Project (even though that stuff was before I was born haha) but I got an early introduction when I was younger, so I thought why not make it. Still love photography but maybe now for a different purpose.
Q3. What do you find in music production that you couldn't find in photography? What does music unlock for you?
A. I find more freedom in creating more consistently. If I'm feeling something I can instantly, rather than waiting on a subject. Music makes me feel whatever I'm feeling in the moment through sound and it just feels better and more natural to me as a medium.
Q4. What is the theme behind the EP? How does your experience with water translate into a track like this?
A. This track is definitely a feel good track, gives the vibe of freedom and being comfortable in your own energy. It's also the intro to the EP and the theme is how beautiful and full of energy water can be yet it could be dense, chaotic, and dangerous. Basically made the comparison to what happened to me in 2022 with a great year in the start, and then leading to the end I had a family member of mine pass, and a breakup with my s/o at the time.
Q5. What can be expected of the EP?
A. D&B tracks, ambience, and sexy music for sexy people.
Q6. What stories do you hope to tell as a creative? What stories particularly with your music and this EP, and in your past work?
A. The stories I have to tell are really just things I experience in my everyday life. Whether it be tragic, exciting, or even mysterious weird shit. I just wanna be able to encapsulate that within my music, and hopefully when someone hears it they can have their own interpretation of how it makes them feel.
Q7. What are the main inspirations behind your work as a creative, and more specifically this EP?
A. Main inspirations for my work in general are just random events that have happened to me in my life or things that made me have a new perspective on something. For the EP especially though as I mentioned before I think me listening to a lot of Four Tet when I was younger, and even being Caribbean I've had a lot of influence in different rhythmic patterns so needless to say there's a lot of head bopping.
Q8. How has New York and you finding your way as a creative in this space inspired your work today?
A. Being born and raised in Queens is so different from hanging out in the city and finding people who are just like you looking for a means to express themselves. It's interesting that unfortunately not a lot of people in the boroughs get to leave and see what's out there. Whether that be by going upstate for a hike, going to a new country, across the nation, whatever. I think me gaining these experiences have given me new perspectives that translate in my art. Plus when you meet genuine people in NY they stay with you and influence you in the best way possible.