Tag: NINA (Page 2 of 7)

RICKY WILDE X NINA Interview

11 August 2023 /

‘Scala Hearts’ sees the first long playing collaboration between Ricky Wilde X Nina.

The pair met when they independently went to see THE MIDNIGHT at the Scala in London, hence the album’s title. Introduced to each other by a mutual friend podcaster Lee Bennett, Ricky and Nina got on like a house on fire and found they had common ground creatively despite the generational divide. Straight away, they collaborated on two tracks ‘Runaway’ and ‘Gave Up On Us’ on Nina’s second album ‘Synthian’.

Ricky Wilde is the musical veteran who was first touted for boyhood stardom with his 1972 debut single ‘I Am An Astronaut’, drawing comparisons with Donny Osmond. But his future lay behind the scenes as a songwriter and producer. The son of Marty and the brother of Kim, he played a key role in his sister’s international hits ‘Kids In America’, ‘Cambodia’ and ‘You Came’. It could even be argued that Ricky’s ‘Reprise’ instrumental section of the ‘Select’ album version of ‘Cambodia’ was the forerunner of the filmic synthwave styles that since have been adopted and developed by the likes of artists such as WAVESHAPER. Today, he remains the musical director of her live popular shows and continues to work on her albums, the most recent being ‘Here Come The Aliens’ in 2018.

Nina has been called “The Queen of Synthwave” following her appearance in the 2019 documentary film ‘The Rise Of The Synths’ narrated by John Carpenter. She achieved her wider breakthrough when her single ‘My Mistake’ was part a 2015 Mercedes-Benz advertising campaign in Europe. Since then, she has issued two solo albums ‘Sleepwalking’ and ‘Synthian’ which both included tracks co-produced by Richard X and an EP ‘Control’ which utilised samples from Cliff Martinez’s ‘Drive’ film score. More recently, there has been the ‘Lust’ EP with Kid Moxie released on Italians Do It Better.

What originally started as a selection of songs intended for Nina’s third album became a joint artist collaboration with Nina and Ricky standing centre stage together. ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK was extremely pleased to be able to chat to Ricky and Nina about the making of ‘Scala Hearts’ in what is likely to be one of the most anticipated moments of 2023 in electronic pop.

Ricky Wilde X Nina, it’s like it is meant to be?

Nina: It definitely feels that way! After we met, we realised that we love the same bands and were going to all the same concerts without knowing one another yet. Ricky is very on the pulse and although we are from different generations, we create music together almost effortlessly! Our mutual friend Lee Bennet introduced us, knowing that we’d click.

You’ve worked with each other before, on ’Runaway’ and ‘Gave Up On Us’ from ‘Synthian’, were there any anxiety or nerves on either side when you sat in the studio together for the first time?

Ricky: There wasn’t on my side, I knew from meeting Nina at THE MIDNIGHT gig, I just had a really good vibe off her and I knew she has this lovely energy, she was very positive and I didn’t think there would be any problems in the studio. I knew it was going to be a lovely experience and I was right.

Sometimes, you just get a gut feeling Chi and you know when something is right, it felt right the moment I met her. When she said she was 2 tracks light on the album, I saw it as my opportunity to dive in and say “Let’s do some work!”. Thankfully she accepted my proposal and she came down and we spent a couple of days on it. Was it 2 days Nina?

Nina: Yes, you’re right! I was definitely nervous meeting Ricky in his studio for the first time. It was a huge deal for me! I grew up listening to his beautiful melodies and incredible songwriting. However, the nerves went away almost instantly, as he’s such a warm person and made me feel very at home. There is a mutual respect between the two of us, which was very comforting.

Ricky: Yes, we finishing writing it and then I programmed it up and then we had the recording process after that but it was pretty quick. I knew it would be a lovely experience and I’m just grateful that the two tracks that we wrote ended up on the album.

So with ‘Scala Hearts’, what was intended as a few collab songs has ended up as full-length album, was this partly as a result of lockdown?

Ricky: A lot of it was written during lockdown. I knew Nina was thinking about new songs for her third album and had just moved back to Berlin, so I sent her some demos with my vocals recorded as a guide. She quickly responded with “love this” and “love that” but to my surprise, she proposed the idea of us collaborating as an artist duo, rather than me just producing. I wasn’t expecting that and though it was a little crazy! *laughs*

Nina: It was totally obvious for me!

Ricky: It’s weird because for me, it wasn’t something that was in my peripheral and Nina suggested it, I thought “why not!”, why not work with this incredibly talented writer with a beautiful voice and wonderful person, why would I not do that. So it didn’t take long for me to jump in and say “let’s do it!” 🙂

It’s a wonderful bridge between generations…

Ricky: That was one of the other things that was mad! *laughs*

Are there any advantages to collaborating remotely?

Ricky: It’s a really strange one this, when Nina said she had to move to Berlin, I thought “How’s this going to affect our writing relationship?” and to be honest, it kind of helped it. I am very insular as a person and as a writer in my life, so to have people watching me while I’m programming is not particularly comfortable for me…

Nina: I’m the same!

Ricky: I like having my own autonomy and to be able to muck around, try chords, try sounds in my own time without feeling the pressure of someone going “come on!”.

Nina: I wouldn’t have done that! *laughs*

Ricky: No, but by the sheer fact that if there is anyone in the room, I know they’re there waiting while I’m doing something. Not that anyone would feel irritated or annoyed by it, but knowing they are waiting for you is a pressure in itself. So I liked the way I could work on synth sounds and THEN send it over and go “what do you think of this?”

Sometimes, Nina would say “I love this” and other times she was say “Oh, it’s a little bit low in key, maybe this, maybe that”, it was just a lovely way of working for me, it really worked.

Nina: I feel the same way. Sometimes being alone allows me to be less self-conscious and in my private, carefree mindset, I can get really emotional. As much as I enjoy vibing off other musicians in the studio, some recordings benefit from this type of intimacy and it can help me be more receptive to a magic moment.

Have you ever worked with that software where you are virtually working live remotely?

Ricky: I haven’t but it’s the same situation, if we had that, Nina would be sitting there waiting and that in my head would be distracting. I like that she’s off doing her own thing whether that’s with Kid Moxie flying to LA or whatever, it meant I could spend more time making our tracks better and know there’s no pressure of Nina waiting for me.

‘LA Dreamers’ is the first single, described in the press release as “STARSHIP meets TEARS FOR FEARS”… it’s a duet, this must be the first time Ricky has sung lead vocals for nearly 50 years since ‘I Wanna Go To A Disco’.

Ricky: Thankfully not! *laughs*

I did do a duet with Kim on ‘Here Come The Aliens’ called ‘Pop Don’t Stop’, it was a kind of autobiographical song about us growing up and loving pop music. So ‘Scala Hearts’ isn’t really the first thing but in my head, it was a little one-off thing. We obviously do lots of gigs with Kim, and have so many incredible experiences, working with many incredible people on stage, we absolutely love it. The nucleus of the live band has been with us for the last 20-25 years, we’re all mates and it’s like a little family when we go on tour. We just know each other backwards and Kim feels very comfortable with us all.

Nina: There’s so much banter, I loved the experience of seeing Kim Wilde and the band on stage, it was so much fun, everyone has to go and seeing the show, you can just feel their love for one another.

Ricky: So with ‘Pop Don’t Stop’, it made sense for me to do something other than just play guitar; so for the next Kim Wilde album that we’re working on, it might be that Scarlett, my daughter is featured on one track.

How did the “please sing Ricky” idea come about?

Nina: When I heard Ricky’s vocals on the demos, I was like “Bloody hell! His vocals are incredible! To not embrace him as a co-lead singer would be a mistake!”.

Ricky, you do sound like Ollie Wride on ‘LA Dreamers’, was this intentional or just your natural delivery?

Ricky: I’ve always sung like that but I’m a bit of a Rory Bremner of pop vocally, I morph into different styles for different songs, so if you listen to my vocal on ‘Living In Sin’ for instance, it’s a totally different sounding type of vocal than it is on ‘LA Dreamers’. So it’s what I feel for each different track, I probably DO sound like Ollie Wride on some tracks because I love Ollie and his voice!

Have you ever heard ‘Overpass Graffiti’ by Ed Sheeran? The first time I heard it on Radio 2, I thought it was the new one by Ollie Wride!!

Ricky: No, I’ll give that a listen Chi *laughs*

Look-In magazine called Ricky “The New Donny” and Nina has been compared to Kim Wilde, journalists like a reference (and I’m guilty of this), is this sort of thing damaging when launching a music career?

Nina: I don’t know, it depends on who you get compared to, I guess! *laughs*

I’m one of the lucky ones because I get to be compared to Kim. It’s an honour, I love it.

Ricky: I agree, I was compared to Donny Osmond back in those days, it was “WOW!”, little me being compared to one of the biggest stars in the world at the time, that was incredible for me, it was a real honour. It didn’t do me any harm, put it that way!

So OMD‘s ‘Messages’ was a key source of inspiration in the song ‘Night & Day’? Please elaborate…

Ricky: We’ve done quite a few gigs with OMD and they’ve become friends now which is an amazing honour for me because I adore them.

‘Messages’ was for me one of the first warm synthesizer pop records…

Ricky: ‘Messages’ was a massive track for me back in the 80s… along with Gary Numan and John Foxx, there were so many synth bands at that time like ULTRAVOX who were so inspiring for me. But when I heard ‘Messages’, there was something about it that struck a chord for me, that blippy intro… it finished up on ‘Kids In America’, that was all OMD! They were a massive influence me at the time. ‘Souvenir’ was another one, those beautiful swirling synths, I loved it. So maybe there were some influence from OMD on ‘Night & Day’…

On the same subject, you know when I first heard ‘Cambodia’, I thought it was a bit OMD sounding with the minimal rhythm and the melodies…

Ricky: Possibly, but at that time I was also listening to a lot of JAPAN as well, I used to love JAPAN…

You worked with the late Mick Karn from JAPAN didn’t you?

Ricky: Yeah, I did a couple of tracks on his first solo album, he became a great friend as well, sadly missed, 52 years of age he was when he passed away, so sad but what an incredible talent 😥

I was very much influenced by JAPAN, that minimalist vibe and DURAN DURAN, all those lovely synth sounds they had, there were so many incredible exciting bands in those days, DEPECHE MODE as well, there might have been a little bit of influence from them. It was almost like every week, something came out that was like “OH MY GOD! WHAT THE F**K IS THAT?” you know, it was such an inspiring time.

Nina, were you much of an OMD fan?

Nina: I love OMD! They were constantly on German radio as I was growing up. In general, the 80s were such an influential decade for me.

But were you more into ‘If You Leave’ from ‘Pretty In Pink’ or ‘Secret’ with regards OMD or the weirder earlier stuff?

Nina: I have a soft spot for ‘If You Leave’ because I’m a romantic at heart *chuckles*

Can I put an idea in your heads? I can imagine you both doing a popwave duet take on ‘Secret’…

Ricky: Maybe we’ll do that live 😉

Nina: That’s a good idea, I’m up for it!

On ‘Kids In America’ there is that pulsing synthbass, do you see any parallels between the music you made then and the synthwave pop of more recent years in terms of construction?

Ricky: That was a Minimoog… that’s a really good question, it’s an interesting one. Every now and then, I do hear songs and I think “oh, that reminds me of…” but whether I’ve influenced that, it’s so hard to know. I’d like to think that maybe there something they’re heard of mine that they might have done something with or thought about. And if they have, wonderful but there was so many incredible bands in those days with different sounds and there were different synths coming out every year! You can almost plot the year of a song by the synth… like ‘Smalltown Boy’ by BRONSKI BEAT, that beautiful pad sound, I remember hearing that sound on a Roland D550.

Were there any other artists that you mutually bonded during the conception and production of ‘Scala Hearts?

Ricky: There were quite a few bands we were listening to… we love CAUSEWAY don’t we?

Nina: Totally, I played their songs a lot around that time and felt so inspired… they’re so talented. I hope they’re going to play a show in Berlin one day. Also, Frida Sundemo because we really adore her…

Ricky: Yup, we love Frida! I love PENSACOLA MIST, I love their album ‘Lost In Love’, I thought it was sensational, that first track ‘The Dying Light’, the whole LA lyric was really inspiring for me on ‘LA Dreamers’. NATION OF LANGUAGE, I think you love them Nina?

Nina: Oh amazing! I love them…

Ricky: L’AVENUE…

Nina: Yes, we love L’AVENUE…

Ricky: Yes, love you Jez, we got to know him really well, he was on my ‘Unsung Heroes’ podcast recently. Oh yes, BUNNY X, I did a remix for ‘Perfect Paradise’…

Nina: That’s a cool remix, it was a perfect summer tune…

Ricky: We love THE MIDNIGHT… and FUTURE ISLANDS

Nina: You got me into FUTURE ISLANDS as well!

Ricky: And more recently CANNONS, I saw you liked one of their tracks on Insta Nina 😉

Was the title ‘Fade Me Out’ a consequence of a recording or mix instruction? 😉

Ricky: I just liked the “Take me in, fade me out” couplet, IN-OUT, I just thought “take me in” as in you’re taken in by someone because they are conning you and then they are not interested in you anymore, so they fade you out. I just liked that juxtaposition so that’s where that lyric came from. So it wasn’t anything to do with fading out by programming on Logic X Pro… it’s funny with writing and Nina will back me up on this one, sometimes you’ll just sing something and it’s the first thing that comes into you head because you know how it should sound… sometimes that finished up being the title or a main part of the lyric. You don’t know where it comes from or why, but it just sounds right at the time and it sticks for whatever reason. “Take me in, fade me out” was the first thing that came into my head.

Nina: I love how Ricky sometimes came up with lyrics that expressed exactly what I was going through at the time. It inspired me to continue the story and interpret it in a more personal way, like I did for ‘Fade Me Out’. For Ricky, it was the “push and pull” in a relationship, to me it became “the anxiety of letting someone go and starting over, truly”.

You are covering ‘Videotheque’, probably the coolest of those quartet of DOLLAR singles produced by Trevor Horn, have you given it a different spin or played it straight?

Nina: I actually had never heard the original before our friend Lee recommended it to us. The original is great! We rock out a bit more in our version. Ricky’s badass guitar solo gives it a whole other dynamic which I adore!

Ricky: Yeah, it’s a bit tougher… when Lee suggested it, it was a no brainer and I could really hear Nina’s vocal on it and that’s what Lee said. And sure enough, she killed the vocal on it, absolutely beautiful.

The 1984 Kim Wilde B-side ‘Lovers On A Beach’ from ‘The Second Time’ is another cover on ‘Scala Hearts’ and the original has this Italo disco vibe, is that a music form that you have both appreciated as it did get maligned back in the day?

Ricky: I’ve always been a fan of Giorgio Moroder since ‘Midnight Express’, the moment I heard that theme tune, I was hooked. And then there was ‘Together In Electric Dreams’ with Phil Oakey and of course, ‘I Feel Love’ with Donna Summer, that whole bassline, the moment you hear that, that’s it, you’re up dancing, you can’t not!

Nina: Ah, that’s SO good!

Ricky: When we came to do the remake of ‘Lovers On A Beach’, I just thought there was a little bit more that it needed that I maybe wanted to add back in the day. But we didn’t have enough time for whatever reason and ended up as a B-side as we were in a real rush to get one done; it was written, recorded and done, blah-blah-blah, then out! By the time it came out, I thought maybe we could have done more with it, which is why we’ve revisited it. Yeah, Nina smashed the vocal on it!

Nina: In general, Italo Disco is a big inspiration for me. ‘I Feel Love’ is still a huge favourite and I’m a big fan of Giorgio Moroder, “The Father of Disco”. Being asked to cover any of Ricky and Kim’s songs is a huge honour but ‘Lovers On A Beach’ tickled our Italo fancy 🙂

Ricky: I remember years ago being in the studio with Pete Bellotte who was Moroder’s writing partner, I learnt a lot from him so there was stuff he was doing that I was taking note of.

What are your hopes and fears for ‘Scala Hearts’? Favourite Track?

Ricky: I’m just actually thrilled that it’s coming out and done with such a great label (New Retro Wave), it’s been done in such a classy way, that’s exactly how I wanted it. It’s done its job for me by the fact it’s going to be out and people can see what we can do., I’m really pleased with that. Favourite track? I change from day-to-day, some days it’s ’Fade Me Out’, other days it’s ‘LA Dreamers’, it could be ‘Gold Heart’, it changes daily. Today? ‘LA Dreamers’ *laughs*

Nina: My hope is that listeners are as inspirited and motivated as I was while making it. It’s a positive record, created from a place of goodwill; a “feel good” album intended to elevate the heart. I’ve never thought about “fear” when it comes to this project. I feel too good about the positive energy in the music. It has protective wings!

My favourite track changes all the time. At the moment, it’s a tie between ‘Fade Me Out’ and ‘Fighter’. Creating both songs with Ricky was very therapeutic for me because I was going through one of the hardest times of my life. ‘Fade Me Out’ is about loss and I sing with an operatic sorrow at times, while the epic drums crash down like the lyrics. ‘Fighter’ contrasts this and rises with bravery and hope.

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Ricky Wilde X Nina

‘LA Dreamers’ is available now via New Retro Wave on the usual online platforms at https://ninanrickywilde.lnk.to/LADreamers

‘Scala Hearts’ will be released in Autumn 2023

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Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by Say Goodnight Films
11 August 2023

KID MOXIE & NINA Devotion

11 May 2023 /

Despite being thousands of miles apart, KID MOXIE & NINA bonded online over ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Twin Peaks’ and ‘Drive’; the respective musical monikers of Elena Charbila and Nina Boldt, their debut collaborative EP ‘Lust’ released on Italians Do It Better was a sexy and sultry concoction that explored themes of erotica with a dark yet playful demeanour.

While ‘Electric Kiss’ was the carefree ride that presented the light on the EP, ‘Devotion’ represented the darkness and something altogether more sinister. In a new mini-movie for the latter filmed in Los Angeles and directed by Joe Rubenstein whose credits also include the saucy visual presentation for the KID MOXIE single ‘Shine’, the mini-movie sees the infamous DURAN DURAN video ‘The Chauffeur’ meeting ‘Blade Runner’ within an array of vivid colours

With bendy synth sounds provided by producer Hristos Lainas and driving metaphors pointing to forbidden liaisons, in a joint KID MOXIE & NINA interview with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, Nina Boldt said of ‘Devotion’: “I really love that spoken word mixing with the sensual vocals and it’s a bit more playful and there’s anticipation there…”

In a car chase backstory with a twist providing a sexy mystique, Elena Charbila admitted about the video’s inspiration: “It’s probably the most ‘Blade Runner’ influenced because of the location amongst the tall buildings. There’s a chase and as our most dangerous sounding song, it has some Theremin in there as well. There’s a universe where ‘Devotion’ is the track of being chased, but whoever is chasing us doesn’t want to do anything bad to us!”

‘Devotion’ is from the ‘Lust’ EP released by Italians Do It Better, listen via https://idib.ffm.to/lustep

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photo by George Tripodakis
11th May 2023

KID MOXIE & NINA Lust EP

22 March 2023 /

When artists are mutually fans of each other, it can lead to a happy union, collaborative possibilities and even ‘Lust’.

For the LA-based Elena Charbila whose most recent solo album ‘Better Than Electric’ under her nom de théâtre KID MOXIE was released in 2022, she fell in love with NINA’s ‘Synthian’, the title track from the Berliner’s second album. Meanwhile, the German adored the Athens-born songstress’ cover of ‘Big In Japan’, the 1984 international breakthrough of fellow Germans ALPHAVILLE. Despite being thousands of miles apart, KID MOXIE & NINA bonded online over ‘Blade Runner’, ‘Twin Peaks’ and ‘Drive’.

Then crucially, the pair met for real in Berlin, Athens and Los Angeles, using the limited time together on each occasion to fuel their creative urgency. The end result is a 5 track EP entitled ‘Lust’ that captures a seductive film-noir tension with a fantasy world that provokes a cool air of mystery.

Released on Italians Do It Better, the first track to be premiered was a cover of ‘Waiting For Tonight’ on the label’s ‘After Dark 4’ collection in 2022; originally recorded by 3RD PARTY, an American girl trio fronted by the song’s co-writer Maria Christensen but made famous by Jennifer Lopez with added Latino dance vibes, this downtempo cover of a cover exudes a sensual anticipation of consummation with accentuation of the main melody.

The ‘Lust’ title song takes things further in a lengthy retrowave excursion into excess and passion, a cyclical feel to point to an affair that lingers unfinished but continues purely on chemistry regardless on consequences. As our heroines conclude that “lust is a crime”, ‘Crime’ provided some saxy drive from Skylar Funk as the ‘Blade Runner: The Erotic Cut’ approach adds arousing spoken word for an inviting “one night with you” to make your dreams come true to a backdrop of warped bass notes, cut-up voices and lush six string from Oliver Blair aka RADIO WOLF.

The paciest track on the EP, ‘Electric Kiss’ makes further use of Blair’s guitars for a dreamy carefree drive into the sunset. Counterpointing that mood, ‘Devotion’ is much more sinister with bendy synth sounds and Theremin swoops acting as aural metaphors into a forbidden relationship while mixing more spoken word mixing with sensual vocals to heighten anticipation.

A perfect match, ‘Lust’ is a sexy and sultry concoction that explores themes of erotica with a dark yet playful demeanour that provides a wondrous escape. Embrace this seductive partnership as you see fit, but the perusal is all part of the excitement.

“We’re creating a fantasy world cinematically, sexually speaking” said Charbila to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK, “People can think whatever they want about ‘this’. Are we singing this to each other? Are we singing it to your man, my woman? It’s up for your interpretation; we’re not going to feed it to you. It’s just going to be a warm dish, you can eat it however you want.”

‘Lust’ is released as a digital EP via Italians Do It Better on 24th March 2023, pre-save at https://idib.ffm.to/lustep

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Text by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by George Tripodakis
22nd March 2023, updated 24th March 2023

KID MOXIE & NINA Interview

2 March 2023 /

Photo by Paige Von Bank

‘Lust’ is the title of upcoming collaborative EP by KID MOXIE & NINA released by Italians Do It Better.

KID MOXIE is the musical vehicle of Athens-born LA-based musician and composer Elena Charbila whose most recent solo album ‘Better Than Electric’ was released in 2022. Meanwhile, Berliner Nina Boldt is best known by her mononym NINA as the “Queen of Synthwave” with two acclaimed albums ‘Sleepwalking’ and ‘Synthian’ to her name.

The union began from Charbila’s desire to cover ‘Waiting For Tonight’, the 1999 hit by Jennifer Lopez, in a downtempo retrowave style. Meetings took place in Berlin, Athens and Los Angeles to produce five tracks and three videos together.

The end result came to the attention of Italian Do It Better, best known as the home of CHROMATICS and DESIRE who appeared on the soundtrack to the 2011 movie ‘Drive’. After issuing ‘Waiting For Tonight’ on the ‘After Dark 4’ compilation alongside other acts on the roster such as JOON, MOTHERMARY, DOUBLE MIXTE, CAUSEWAY, DLINA VOLNY, LOVE OBJECT and GLÜME, the prestigious label signed the pair to release the ‘Lust’ EP.

From opposite sides of the Atlantic, Elena Charbila and Nina Boldt got together on Zoom with ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK to chat about their fruitful partnership, the making of the ‘Lust’ EP’ and becoming part of the Italians Do It Better family.

So who approached who?

Nina: Our manager Michael Pagnotta, who we’d both known for a long time individually, brought us together, he thought our voices would match really well together. He was right and it’s such a cool collaboration. I found our voices to be very complimentary.

Elena: Michael worked with ERASURE and that’s our mutual connection because Nina played some shows with them in the US… I was asked to do them too so we would have met then but I ended up doing a remix of ‘Sacred’ from their album ‘The Violet Flame’. Michael told me I had a doppelgänger in Germany and made the suggestion to do something.

At the time, I was obsessed with the idea of doing a J-Lo cover so when we started talking, it became apparent that this would be awesome to do as a duet and how sexy it would be to put a new twist on such a dance track, slow down the beats and make it sinister like Miami Nights 1984 or something. That’s how it started…

 

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Your version of ‘Waiting For Tonight’ has this sensual anticipation of consummation… *laughs*

Elena: I feel the way it was, it was very clubby and commercial… we’re both obsessed with stuff like ‘Drive’, ‘Blade Runner’ and all those things, and they have this driving bass sound which is sort of like a trademark for both of us at this point. I felt we should bring it to that song. It has such a beautiful melody but I think the whole beat situation and Latin vibes don’t let that shine. I feel like in our cover and I’m very proud of it, I think we really accentuated the melody.

Did you know the Jennifer Lopez version of ‘Waiting For Tonight’ is a cover, the original was by 3RD PARTY?

Elena: I found out along the way! *laughs*

Nina: Chi, you’re doing your homework really well… even knowing that, I have a special fondness for J.Lo’s version as it was kind of a new millennium dance theme.

In terms of getting to know each other musically, was there a particular song by the other which convinced you “I want to work with this girl!”?

Nina: That’s a very good question!

Elena: When Michael mentioned Nina again to me, I started listening to her stuff and I became obsessed, like I know ALL the lyrics!

Nina: You were AMAZING! You were singing ‘Synthian’ really loud and knew all the lyrics while we were driving in LA! I was impressed!

Elena: I was obsessed! These songs are magical, they’re beautiful. There were certain songs like ‘Synthian’ for example that I found so ballsy, it could have been an 80s anthem, there was no holding back. I loved the idea of that, it was very courageous in a way and it was owned itself. That particular track for me, I was like “let’s f**king do it!”

What was it about Elena that convinced you to work with her?

Nina: I fell in love with her vocals, I love how sensual and smooth they are. One of my favourite tracks is ‘Big In Japan’ by ALPHAVILLE so when she covered that, I thought it was awesome because covers are difficult things to do and not everyone gets it or you don’t feel connected to it because you are so used to the original… but this cover, she made it her own just like she did with ‘Creep’. So before I met Elena in person, ‘Big In Japan’ was the standout for me, just because it’s one of my favourite songs…

Elena: It’s such a good German choice 😉

Photo by Paige Von Bank

So how did the Italians Do It Better connection develop?

Elena: Well Nina knew Megan Louise who is DESIRE and President of the label…

Nina: A while back, Megan featured my cover of Blondie’s ‘Heart Of Glass’ in one of her mixtapes. Being a huge fan of DESIRE, this was a great honour for me, so I reached out and we started talking. She was so supportive of my first independent release ‘Carnival Night’ when it came out, which I really appreciated. I got to know her a bit better and after meeting Elena, we both realised that we felt the same way about Italians Do It Better, so it was an obvious choice for us to go with them.

Elena: We really wanted to be adopted…

Nina: We were both free and it was like “Take us, we love you!” *laughs*

Let’s talk about the title song of the EP. I thought it was interesting that there is the obvious English meaning which is more erotic but ‘Lust’ is the German word for “Pleasure” in a more innocent manner… was there any deliberate choice of that word?

Nina: That’s interesting, I never actually thought of it like that! I had this lyric “lust is a crime” and I just wanted something about open love and excess which we both felt the same way about. We originally thought about calling it ‘You & I’ or even ‘You & The Night’ early on, but I think it was Johnny Jewel who suggested ‘Lust’.

How did the title track develop musically?

Elena: It was the second or third track musically that came together, ‘Waiting For Tonight’ was first and sprung the whole idea of the EP, then ‘Devotion’ and ‘Electric Kiss’ were respectively the darkness and the light. ‘Electric Kiss’ was the carefree ride and ‘Devotion’ more the sinister ride *laughs*

‘Lust’ actually came last as a compliment to everything that was going on sonically, like a bridge… it was like we needed something soft yet deep because ‘Electric Kiss’ carries the emotion of sweet connection but there’s no actual love or devotion.

For the most part, the music was made in Athens with Hristos Lainas aka Franklin producing the project. I was writing it and sending it to Nina and she would give feedback, we would bounce back our vocal ideas about it and it went from that.

Then there’s the video for ‘Lust’…

Elena: The video is pretty sensual and erotica, now that I think about it, there’s different kinds of love in every song… in Greek, there’s different words for each kind of love, it’s not just “love”, there’s “eros” which is the erotic love and there’s the devoted deep love… ‘Waiting For Tonight’ is maybe our anticipation for new love in my head.

Nina: ‘Lust’ for me is like a deep connection, that excess and passion…

Elena: It’s that going back one more time, something that’s unfinished, it has that cyclical feel to it musically and lyrically that it keeps going back. For me, it was like my personal favourite, I immediately had such a ❤️ connection to that particular track. Which one is yours Nina?

Nina: They all have something special but if I have to pick one, it’s ‘Devotion’ because I really love that spoken word mixing with the sensual vocals and it’s a bit more playful and there’s anticipation there. I think it’s interesting also that Hristos did that bendy synth sound…

Photo by George Tripodakis

Yes, I really like that bendy synth sound on ‘Devotion’, it’s as though it’s illustrating the risk of driving into a forbidden relationship? 

Nina: There’s a lot of that, but with ‘Electric Kiss’, it’s more sweet and innocent, that’s more a “drive into the sunset” kind of song, I feel that contrast. It feels a lot more 80s in a way, Synthwave fans will hopefully enjoy that track as well. RADIO WOLF does that dreamy guitar sound which I’m a big fan of.

The EP’s palette is quite varied, you have pacy songs, slow retrowave, covers and ‘Crime’ has this “saxiness”…

Elena: It was supposed to be called ‘Sax Is A Crime’ but you know, people just said “use one word, ‘Crime’”!

Nina: The sax for ‘Crime’ was a bit of a surprise when I heard it in LA and that prompted some sexy spoken words. Our approach was ‘Blade Runner: The Erotic Cut’! Haha! For the EP as a whole, since we wanted to express ourselves in new ways, we incorporated unexpected musical ideas. That’s why the mix of lush guitars, warped bass notes, and cut up vocal FX are built in. They aroused our creativity..

Elena: We’re both obsessed with ‘Blade Runner’ so when I recorded it here in LA, I had this view of the skyline and I had one of my best friends Skylar play that particular sax line. I didn’t know if we were going to put vocals on it or have it as an outro to the EP to add to the cinematic element of the other tracks. When Nina and I heard it together, Johnny Jewel felt it needed to be like ‘Blade Runner’, sultry like ‘Tears In The Rain’ but as it’s androids, its devoid of sexuality, whereas ours, it’s very human and very inviting, it’s inviting “one night with you”, we’ll make your dreams come true.

We’re creating a fantasy world cinematically, sexually speaking. People can think whatever they want about ‘this’. Are we singing this to each other? Are we singing it to your man, my woman? It’s up for your interpretation; we’re not going to feed it to you. It’s just going to be a warm dish, you can eat it however you want.

Photo by George Tripodakis

Are there any more videos planned?

Elena: There’s one for ‘Crime’, it’s definitely in line with the song, it’s hot and very inviting, and it’s very red and black! *laughs*

Nina: There’s sexy silhouettes…

Elena: And there’s one for ‘Devotion’…

Nina: Yes, it’s a bit more of a driving song so we have a car in there. It was filmed in Los Angeles and it’s got lots of neon lights, very sexy and colourful, I don’t want to give away too much… it’s quite different from ‘Lust’ which is nice…

Elena: …it’s probably the most ‘Blade Runner’ influenced because of the location amongst the tall buildings. There’s a chase and as our most dangerous sounding song, it has some Theremin in there as well. There’s a universe where ‘Devotion’ is the track of being chased, but whoever is chasing us doesn’t want to do anything bad to us. *laughs*

Now although you are on different continents, you have met up a few times in Berlin, Athens and LA… which meet-up was the most fun?

Nina: It’s hard to choose. So many great memories but meeting in Berlin was exciting because it was our first encounter. We just gelled together so well. I’m so proud that we managed to write five songs in only two days, that was incredible. Also to me personally, after COVID and all that, things had been difficult so it was a real escape just being in the studio making music.

Elena: I feel like Berlin was basically finishing the EP, putting down all the vocals and writing the lyrics, I’d never co-written lyrics before… co-writing can be such a “back-and-forth” thing and can take f**king ages, but this was, and I kept joking about it, like German efficiency… cos Chi, you know, Greeks, when you leave them loose on their own, they ain’t efficient! *laughs*

So Berlin was like hankering down to finish the EP but then LA was about putting the visuals to the music with a video directed by Joe Rubenstein for ‘Devotion’. It was like fleshing out the universe of ‘Lust’ as it does have themes of old Hollywood with images of palm trees, glamour and driving luxurious cars at night… it has a mystique.

Then in Athens, we shot two videos with director Paige Von Bank, it was so crazy because we did them both in a day. They were filmed by George Geranios of FOTONOVELA who you know and Sophie Sarigiannidou from MARSHEAUX did our make-up, it was all such a family affair… and then we feasted at George’s family tavern after the shoot

That does explain the creative tension in this collaboration which does have this urgent feel about it, there’s no “mañana” about it …

Elena: yes, for me, it was the first time we crammed so much in a “pop” or song-based project of mine. With the soundtrack stuff, I am more used to the pressure of “deliver this now” which feels very stressful always, but for this, it felt like the good kind of stress that you are going to be so productive and you have this challenge. I feel like we made it every single time with Nina. Usually, it’s just “I’m just writing a song, it could take however long” but this time it really worked for me.

Photo by George Tripodakis

So what is the future of your creative relationship? Are you going to do a second EP?

Elena: I would love to do more stuff and I’m sure we will, but we are working on our own individual projects at the same time so it’s an open door.

Nina: That would be great! I think collaborating is a wonderful way to learn new things and push the envelope. I’m always open to it.

Are live shows a possibility or is that really not practical or cost-effective?

Elena: I mean, it’s not easy but we both want it and hopefully we will make it happen.

Nina: It would definitely be an adventure that everyone would enjoy, so I hope we can make it happen. Where there’s will there’s a way!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to KID MOXIE & NINA

‘Electric Kiss’ is available as a single on the usual online platforms, pre-save link at https://idib.ffm.to/electrickiss

‘Lust’ is released as a digital EP via Italians Do It Better on 24th March 2023, pre-save at https://idib.ffm.to/lustep

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Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
Photos by George Tripodakis and Paige Von Bank
2nd March 2023

NINA I’ll Wait

3 December 2021 /

Utilising samples from Cliff Martinez’s ‘Drive’ score, the ‘Control’ EP released at the end of 2020 was possibly Nina’s darkest work yet.

A couple of solo songs ‘Carnival Night’ and ‘Gold Heart’ have since followed but her new single ‘I’ll Wait’ is something altogether different. It is from the upcoming horror movie ‘There’s No Such Thing As Vampires’ directed by Logan Thomas.

The story sees two strangers, Joshua and Ariel, crash into each other’s cars in the dead of the night. They then find themselves pursued across the North American desert, the target of an unstoppable supernatural force!

Composed by Logan Thomas and produced by Oscillian with additional instrumentation by Greg Beaton and extra vocals from long-term collaborator Lau, ‘I’ll Wait’ begins with a sparse backdrop where Nina gives a wonderfully emotive performance over a heart murmur and sparkling understated arpeggios, before a Phil Collins style drum barrage takes hold; ‘I’ll Wait’ could be her very own ‘In The Air Tonight’ or ‘Mama’!

Nina and Logan Thomas spoke to ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK about both song and film…

‘I’ll Wait’ is something of a departure, was this prompted by it be specifically for the film or where you are heading musically now? Any particular inspirations?

Nina: The film’s director, Logan Thomas wrote the original song and then asked me to sing it. I naturally made it my own and brought on one of my collaborators Oscillian to produce the final recording. Dark romanticism has always been part of my musical DNA and I am definitely embracing it more with songs like ‘I’ll Wait’ and my previous single ‘Carnival Night’.

Was there a brief or a free reign?

Logan: I was composing the synth score for the new feature film ‘There’s No Such Thing as Vampires’ and was deeply influenced by the Synthwave movement while I was directing and cutting that movie. We eventually brought in songs by FM84, Jessie Frye, Marsheaux and Nina.

But I also wanted an original love song for the film. You gotta have an original song in a movie like this! Think Annie Lennox’s song for Coppola’s ‘Dracula’! It needed that kind of longing, and I knew Nina was the perfect voice for that! Now, I had only been focusing on directing and composing since I’d moved to Los Angeles, but before that I was heavily into song writing.

So I crawled back into my studio and worked out a melody and lyric that I hoped would build in layers. Almost a hypnotic roundabout until the song reached its climax. So I recorded a demo here and sent it to England for Nina to record it for the film. They finished and sent it back to us in LA. Greg Beaton and I went back in and I added some more synths. Then Greg did some remixing and added that big, wonderful ‘In the Air Tonight’ drum track! So it was definitely a cross continental collaboration with a lot of artists.

So “what” are you waiting for?

Logan: HA!… Well, I suppose you have to see the movie to know that..

Nina: For me, it’s all about music and love. I will wait forever for romance and the song I have not yet written. I hope I never lose that feeling of endless desire.

How did the video come together as a concept?

Logan: Ah, the video… Well. So originally we (the production company) had set up everything to shoot the video here in CA. We crewed up. Had the location, and even began building Nina’s wardrobe. Nina was set to fly here and we would shoot for 2 days. It was going to be a very ‘The Hunger’ inspired music video. Big 80s glam with smokey gothic interiors. Think early Tony Scott and Russell Mulcahy. The COVID restrictions were sure to finally lift in June 2021, allowing international travel to America… and then… they didn’t.

Now we had everything in place and couldn’t get Nina here. So, gotta think pretty fast!… we set up a short session in Berlin to have Nina filmed just singing at, or past the camera. Very simple. Then, for 2 days, we took the footage of Nina and projected it all over the location that we had set in Los Angeles for the original video. Ironically, this method of “projection” ties in very nicely with it being a song for a “movie”! I just love that video. So necessity was definitely the mother of innovation there.

You are living in Berlin again, have you settled back into the groove of the city yet? Has anyone said you are speaking German in an English accent?

Nina: It’s great to be back in my home city with family and friends. I try my best to enjoy life as normal as possible (COVID restrictions). I spend most of my time in my home studio writing/producing and playing with my adorable Snow Bengal ‘Kimba’. Berlin has a unique atmosphere that I find very inspiring, so my creative process is different in a very special way. Yes, some people do notice a little twist in my accent, and I like it!


How are the other new songs coming along, what’s next, anything you can tell people about?

Nina: The new songs are coming along very well, thank you. I am taking my time with Nina Vol 3 because I am trying new things. In the meantime, I am completing collaboration projects with Kid Moxie and Radio Wolf. 2022 is going to be a very fun year for releases!

ELECTRICITYCLUB.CO.UK gives its warmest thanks to Nina and Logan Thomas

‘I’ll Wait’ is released as a digital single via Ascent Releasing

The film ‘There’s No Such Thing As Vampires’ is released on 12th December 2021 in North America and Great Britain on Video On Demand and BluRay

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Text and Interview by Chi Ming Lai
3rd December 2021

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