BIMM Birmingham’s The Nu have been busy over past year, writing and releasing some incredible new tracks despite the lockdown.
On Friday they released their latest single ‘Downfall’, we caught up with Darius Zaltash about the new track, and their plans as these start to ease after lockdown.
What was your inspiration when you began writing the track?
Throughout the pandemic, myself and other university students have been completely disregarded by the government, the only time we ever get close to being mentioned is when we’re blamed for the 2nd wave or because we’re sad about not being able to party. We’re portrayed as immature and naïve whereas the reality is, we are the future and we’re trying our hardest to cope under the pressure – just like everyone else.
Downfall was written from this feeling of frustration and confusion. We’re paying rent to live in places just to be glued to our laptops all day. We’re paying full price for half a degree. It feels like the government thinks we’re “disposable” and it made me really question myself and my life choices. My mental health is a big part of my life and I didn’t want going to uni to feel like it could be my Downfall.
Are there any artists that inspire you when writing?
They vary a lot all the time due to the eclectic nature of my music, I remember listening to a lot of Boston Manor, Basement and FMLYBND when writing this one though!
What is key to your sound and how do you make your music stand out?
I guess I like to experiment a lot, I love clashing genres and ideas together. I tend to not really care about the “rules” when it comes to writing my music and think that it’s important to trybe sonically innovative when making my stuff. After all in my personal opinion, if you want to be the next Arctic Monkeys for example – you’re not going to get there sounding the exact same way they do.
How does your songwriting process work?
I write, record and produce all the parts for The Nu myself, similar to Kevin Parker from Tame Impala, then I have a live band who I play with (big shout out to the boys). The songs come from anywhere really, I don’t have a set way of writing I just hop from idea to idea until things start to make sense! I do find the ideas flow better when I write the whole song on piano or guitar first though.
Describe your sound in 3 words…
probably Rave Rock.
How has studying at BIMM helped you develop as an artist?
BIMM’s taught me so much in so many different areas of my life. There’s far too many people for me to thank to put in this but in terms of my mental health, artist development, managing events, gig opportunities – production, branding and marketing, the micropolitics of being a local artist and many more – BIMM has seriously helped me and their contribution to The Nu has been invaluable.
What’s next for you?
Releasing music in lockdown and putting out content has made me more and more want to go out and play the new tracks in front of a live audience – we’ve got some festivals and stuff lined up so I’m really looking forward to taking the live show across the UK and meeting loads of new people!
