The artist’s adopted moniker, lifted from a fairtyale first published in 1898 although with a much older heritage, is an overload of absence, subtraction and obsolescence. Can there be anything less than thrice zero? Suggesting a blank nihilism, a void…. Erasing his identity as the starting point for his music-making, can the London-born New York based singer-songwriter make something out of nothing and create the perfect fairytale ending?
The album’s certainly got poise and despite the artist’s urge to create something raw, it feels remarkably considered – not that that’s a bad thing.‘I’m in Trouble’ is soulful, with a jazzy blues edge that harks back to a bygone musical era yet equally timeless. The piano work’s jittery, the brass careens around a grainy vocal imbued with emotional depth. Elsewhere, ‘Symphomatic’ blends gospel and world music – while mercifully avoiding Paul Simon territory. The string arrangements on ‘But Bring me Love’ have a lightness of touch that compliments Nix’s soft crooning.
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There’s unquestionably ebb and flow, rise and fall, and tides turning in all directions, but far from evoking the tempestuous rage of a storm, Nix’s album is remarkably smooth and sultry for the most part, delicate and crafted. It all sounds so effortless, and it could easily be argued that in the self-subtracting name, he’s selling short the musical alchemy that sees him making nothing out of something and conjuring lighter than air songs from the ether.
Nix Nought Nothing Online
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