BIOGRAPHY
Nihilis, born Nils Engvall, grew up dreaming of becoming a painter. He longed to express himself creatively. The bubble he put himself in while creating was his favourite place. Creating worlds, places or objects for emotional response out of the imaginary.
The passion for art extended beyond the visual, and when he discovered FL Studio, he realized that he himself could make music from his own bedroom. Nihilis quickly became a sought after beatmaker in the Swedish underground hip hop scene, working with artists far away from his hometown Jönköping in Sweden through instagram direct messages selling beats that he made on his cracked version of FL Studio.
But being a beatmaker was tiring and Nihilis felt like it was less about creative expression, and more about adhering to predetermined trends and formulas.
Youtube recommendations gave him reach to artists that pushed boundaries, and he wanted to be like them. He wanted to explore the world of sound like Björk, Four Tet, burial and Andy Stott. But the lack of a scene in Jönköping made him feel like he couldnt grow.
Nihilis therefore left his parents home looking for energy and inspiration as soon as he graduated highschool.
Berlin became his new hometown, which for a time made him intimidated and overwhelmed.
It was new, big and chaotic. But it was there that he truly found his passion for electronic dance music. The warm dancefloors of Berlin gave him an ephinay; he fell in love with its sense of freedom, hopefulness and belongingness. He emerged himself in to the community and attended as many resident events as he could, standing front row everytime to analyze the djs techniques on the desks.
Nihilis own music though, isnt tied to being fit for the club. He explores his palette of emotional struggles, conveying it transparently into his songs, making his music more fit for the walk home from the rave. With sampling techniques inspired by his time in hip hop, paired up with recorded and heavily processed vocals aswell as big and warm synths, makes his music sound melancholic and nostalgic. Sometimes its hopeful, other times nihilistic and sad, but always rythmic with a big and warm bassline reminiscent of the dancefloor.
EP - LUCENT
The word lucent, means glowing of light. The word therefor describes many things about Nils experiences. It points toward sleepless nights with only the moonlight as company, it points to struggles with anxiety and depression only to be lit up by love, insight and visions of the future. But also, the feeling of shame, the feeling of standing in the spotlight exposed and lucent for others to judge.
The Ep is Nils first body of work, and it is the outcome of a long episode of release-fear. Nils has held on to his songs, feeling like they are at risk of losing its endless possibilities once they leave the hard drive and turn into a product in the world of streaming. But he has now conquered that fear, and he has done it fearlessly by singing for the first time on a song ever, or rather humming. With this release, Nils breaks free from the shame of being different, the shame of taking a different path. The ep consists of 5 songs with garage inspired beats made from field recordings, samples and synths paired up with vocals used as additional synths for melodies. Some of the songs have been on the hard drive for several years, and now they get to see the lucent daylight.
