INTERVIEW: Electronic star Nyxen on her upcoming debut album 'PXNK': "I always wanted to be in a band, but no one ever wanted to be in a band with me so I just had to do it myself!"
Interview: Jett Tattersall
Australian electronic artist Nyxen has steadily built up a reputation for being a master of her genre since she first launched her project in 2015. Her music has since accumulated tens of millions of streams and with an ability to effortlessly move between synth-drenched pop, trance and indie pop, she creates music for every one of your moods.
On August 19 she will launch her debut album PXNK (pronounced ‘punk’) and it is an impressive collection of music that marks a high point in Nyxen’s career to date. It is an album that stays true to her electronic roots but also encompasses multiple other genres while remaining beholden to none.
‘Radio Silence’ is a mesmerising synthpop number with a moody soundscape that has a 1980s throwback feel. ‘Synthetic’ has a similar feel, with a synth foundation giving the track a new wave feel but also with a dash of melancholy in the mix with Nyxen’s repeated vocals in the chorus enforcing the otherworldliness and delirium of the lyrics: ‘took a trip now I’ve got synthetic dreams’.
Elsewhere on the album, Nyxen takes a more organic, earthy path. ‘The Search’ and ‘I Wanna Know’ are both brilliant examples of indiepop that shift the focus to the guitar and allow Nyxen’s vocals to really shine. There are still hints of electronica to keep you engaged if that is your thing, but the change in gear comes at the perfect time to excite you all over again.
‘Oceanview’ is another entrancing left of field moment. A purely instrumental track, it is driven by an electric guitar and thumping drum beats, interwoven with a subtle collection of electronic pings and flourishes that bring to mind sound effects from an intergalactic space film.
Penultimate track ‘Lightyears’ is another instrumental track which this time takes inspiration from the 1970s with a groove that harks back to disco and funk with swirling synths gradually infiltrating the mix. It is a glorious, uplifting moment.
PXNK is the accumulation of many years of recording for Nyxen and it is an album that stands tall as her finest work to date. Invigorating, dark, compelling and addictive it is made for cranking up loud and soundtracking your next party or late night dancing in your favourite club. We recently caught up with Nyxen to find out more the creation of PXNK.
Hi Nyxen, so lovely to speak to you. You have your delicious debut album PXNK out in August, and it’s all kinds of flavour and just fabulous. I want to start off with the title track, which was released as a single back in March. Please tell me about it because I love it.
Usually when I'm writing I don't really have this idea of what I'm going to talk about in a song, I just kind of start playing around with my synth and guitar and see where the feeling takes me. With ‘PXNK’, the first thing that I did with that song was that up sound that you hear at the start and I was like, ‘oh I have to record this!’ So I quickly rattled around my studio and got it in and recorded it. Almost immediately I just started thinking about all those cyberpunk movies and visuals and I was like, ‘this is what this song is going to be about and where I'm going to take it’. So that's where the name comes from, it's a shortened version of cyberpunk. I put an X there instead of the U and now people are calling it ‘Pink’ - that’s my fault, lesson learned, I'm not going to do that again! I'm a big sci fi fan, so it's not uncommon for me to go down that route with imagery, and it just kind of grew from there. I'm really stoked with how it came out.
I was gonna say as soon as I played the opening of that track, I was like ‘I know, this film, I know this place, I've been here before’ and it just brought up such nostalgia, automatically and that had me smiling. I'm so pleased that it sets the tone for the album, it's a beautiful tone to have.
Yeah, that's exactly what I wanted to do with it so I'm glad that’s coming through.
I want to talk to you now about last year ‘Tunnels’. I love that track. I heard it was a years long process building and creating this song. Can you talk to me a little bit about both the song and also the process that it went through to get to where it became ‘Tunnels’?
It was such a long process with ‘Tunnels’. You know I can’t even really remember when I started it, and this is how I usually tell how long [a process took], it's been like two houses ago! So I can remember where I was, I had a separate room in my share house that was my studio. It was just at the start of this relationship and I captured that. The first thing that I did with it was the chorus, ‘my baby don't treat me mean’ and this whole thing. I was really pulling from that relationship to talk about those insecurities that you have in that period where you're a bit unsure of where things are going. For me it makes a lot of sense, but for other people, maybe not so much, because it's a personal experience. Over time I included other things, those harmonies that come in, that was in COVID lockdown in 2020. I had this new space, and it was this beautiful day outside and I was just doing all these harmonies, and it pulled together like that. It's not uncommon for me to dip in and out of projects. I get distracted easily! ‘Tunnels’ was about the start of a relationship, but I finished it as that relationship had progressed. It was a very fun one to make, and it's a little bit different sounding to things that people are used to me making. There's a lot of that on the album, there’s a broader range of what I am interested in, but it ties together with the sounds that I'm using.
But that's just what we are, isn't it? We're just a broad range of strokes and inspirations! Your desire to be a producer, a one woman orchestra, where did that come from?
It definitely started in high school. Music has always been the only thing that I've really ever loved. I could always just escape to music, whether it be just playing my guitar in my room, and then having my sister telling me to stop playing because it was too loud! I would throw my books in the corner of my room after school and I would just go play the guitar. In music class, I was very particular about the way I wanted things to sound and I would try and get my classmates to play things in a certain way. I'd be like, ‘no, that's not the rhythm I want. Okay, that's fine, I'm just going to play it myself.’ There was one assessment where I had a kick drum, a tambourine and a guitar and I was playing this whole thing by myself. That's where it really started, this kind of idea that I didn't have to rely on other people to create what I wanted to create. I always wanted to be in a band, but no one ever wanted to be in a band with me, so I just had to do it myself. It started there and then I got GarageBand, which I think everyone that starts writing music has had at one point, and I would just try and piece together songs on there. After school I forced my parents to get me Ableton, and it just kind of progressed. I just didn't have anyone to do those things with me from an early age, so I just adapted and that led to where I am now.
As someone who is so heavily involved in the production, songwriting, and all the elements of your work, do you ever feel like it's almost too big to bear being a one woman team?
More often than not, I'm like, ‘I wish I had someone to collaborate with.’ As you spend more time working on music, collaboration is such an amazing thing to be a part of. You get different perspectives and learn different things from each person that you write with. I definitely feel sometimes I wish I had another bandmate to bounce off of. I've got a drummer on tour now, so I get to hang out with him when I'm on the road, which is less lonely. And I do collaborate with my friend Frank Xavier a lot, we actually mixed the record together and re-recorded a few synth lines with some of his vintage gear. We also work on his songs together, so there might be a feature on one of his projects coming out soon. I do get that collaboration, but it would be nice to have maybe two more little bandmates to hang out with and collaborate with!
Do you remember your first show as Nyxen?
I can remember my first live show. I was DJiing for so long I can't actually remember when I transitioned to the Nyxen name, so it would have been probably at World Bar in Sydney DJ-ing. That's where it really started, and then I transitioned into making less clubby kind of sounding music and music that you would want to listen to in the car or just at home. My first show as Nyxen was in Wollongong and it was a few weeks before I played at Field Day. I had to play a live show before I got on a festival stage because I was just so nervous. It was amazing, it was such a different feeling playing live. Coming from a background of playing instruments it was something I'd always wanted to do. It was pretty wild, it's a good memory. I think your first show is always a good memory.
With that transition to live performances and really connecting with your audience first hand, do you think that's changed the way you create music and what you lean towards with the music that you put out?
Oh, definitely. With ‘PXNK’, that introduction could have probably been shortened, but in a live scenario, I just pictured that playing and all the lights flickering and it just being a real ‘wow’ kind of moment. I definitely think about how things are going to look and feel in a live context when I'm writing. I'm often at home by myself just bopping away at the computer, listening and when I finish working on something for a day, I export it onto my phone and then I just listen to it and hear it in different environments. What does this sound like when I have all the lights turned off, and my eyes closed? In a dark room by myself, what does this sound like there? So I'm always thinking about those different environments and how it sounds?
With that, what's been your winning environment so far to listen to PXNK?
Playing it live in front of an audience, that is the place where I like to hear it. I can't hear it the way that the crowd does because I'm always getting a different mix because I've got to listen to all the other instruments playing. I always say I have no idea what my live show really sounds like because I'm listening to such a different thing to what everyone else is hearing. It's always interesting to see yourself live because it's the best way to to improve. You look back and you're like, ‘Okay, what am I doing there? I need to fix this, this could be more interesting’. Hopefully next show it can just always get better and better. Always growing and improving.
We have PXNK the whole complete set coming in August, what else is coming up for you for the rest of the year?
More shows, it’s looking like they're going to be at the end of the year. My sights are definitely on touring as much as possible, just because I haven't been able to do it for so long. I just want to play all this music live and then work on some new music. Work on new music, tour. Get the music out there and play it live kind of thing. That's my plan.
PXNK is out on August 19 via Tank Top Records/BMG. You can pre-order and pre-save here.
To keep up with all things Nyxen you can follow her on Instagram and Facebook.
