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The Eighth Note: Nikita 雅涵 Tu-Bryant

Eighth Note

‘The Eighth Note’ is 8 quick Questions with Wellington Musicians.

A chance for us to catch up with people & see what they’re up to, or introduce you to a new musician/band and their music.

Today’s guest is Nikita 雅涵 Tu-Bryant, who makes music as a solo artist and also as part of the bands FLITE & Nikita The spooky.

Who are you? Tell us a bit about your music:
My name is Nikita 雅涵 Tu-Bryant, I identify first as a storyteller above all else.
I believe in making from a place of honesty and sincerity, and I believe that the intention behind your music when it is true resonates above all else. This is the most important thing to me, and from there on, to connect with people on that level. If my art can resonate with people and their experiences, I feel like this is the best thing an artist could ask for.

What have you been working on lately? Any new tracks or albums on the way?
Last year I released an album that has been probably the most honest and personal for me to date. It was inspired by my own true story of love and loss. I encountered a very peculiar problem with my throat and could ‘not sing’ which resulted in me pulling out of a South Island tour with fellow musician Monty Bevins. After trying to treat it as a physical condition (to no avail) – I went back into my travel journals of my old love story. One I had brushed under the rug thinking I was healed. In fact, I really wasn’t. I disappeared into my journals, and travelled back in time and turned my journals and poetry into these songs.
Before and After Joshua was recorded in one sitting, in order of the songs as you hear them on the album, in order of the events that occurred – I did this alone in my van on the South Coast of Wellington (you can hear the waves, and the planes landing). Since then I have been making videos to go with this album, and each time I play these songs, each time I make a physical copy of this CD (I have hand carved, printed, written on each CD) – I feel a sense of healing. This album has taught me the importance of grieving. Not just for someone you have lost, but for any kind of loss. This album has shown me the power of creating from a place of pain or joy. Currently I am performing these time capsules.
I am working on a new CD – that is also in the mix. My band FLITE is also amidst recording our first Debut CD (we released a single a while ago called Mariana’s Trenchcoat).

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Where is the best place people can follow you & find your music?
I do my best with Facebook, and I also do have my website where I feel more freedom to write in depth.
I run workshops to share my knowledge and experience in the art of making, and how anyone has the ability to do it, should they want to. I also do one on one sessions, and I work best in person, face to face.

What were the 3 most influential albums to you growing up?
This is often a question I am afraid to answer, because there are just so many(!) – and to forget one, or to choose one over the other might come across as another doesn’t matter. So off the top of my head (remembering that these will always be changing!) and in no particular order…
Jimi Hendrix BBC Sessions
Bic Runga DRIVE
Dusty Springfield AM I THE SAME GIRL
(and just one more for luck) The Beatles SGT PEPPERS LONELY HEARTS CLUB

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Which other Wellington musician (s) would you most like to work with?
I’d really like to work with Warren Maxwell – I think a lot of his intention in his songwriting speaks true to me. Hopefully one day, there will be space for this to happen.
I am really enjoying also, working with artists that are not musicians, it’s all storytelling, and having another form allows you to play from a fresh and different perspective. Of course, playing with different musicians allows this as well, but being a different medium makes it a lot easier to think from a different angle.

What ís your favourite Wellington venue to play in?
This is a very difficult question, it’s completely dependent on what kind of music I am playing. When I was young, I used to believe anywhere that will have you. When in actual fact, it is anywhere that can compliment the atmosphere you create with your music. I have many favourite spaces, however they differ every time. I think it’s the people that come, the people you play with, or the music you are playing that dictates where a good venue is. I do really enjoy hiring out an empty space, creating your own atmosphere with lights, sights, and smells – you get to be creative in making the world that your listeners will be listening in.

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In your songwriting or composing (or the band’s songwriting) how do the compositions and songs take shape?
Traditionally for me, lyric first. I identify as being a storyteller, so if I am speaking words, then the music (I feel) should support the intention. However I am always changing up my approach to writing music, and sometimes letting the music take you on a journey with all it’s unexpected turns first then writing the poetry to it can give you a very beautiful and different spin. Then of course there is also just instrumental music (no lyric), which can be just as evocative, and allow the listener to feel what he or she wants to feel without words. Implies as oppose to says.

Where/when is your next gig?
My next show is a private show at a beautiful house in Island Bay – a chance for people to bring food and come to listen purely acoustically with the backdrop of a beautiful view at Twilight. My next public gig is with my band February 10th at Rogue and Vagabond (we are called FLITE). After that I will be performing ‘Before and After Joshua’ at Performance Arcade (amazing festival on the Wellington Waterfront), as well as playing with FLITE there, and other solo artists. I’m also playing a great wee gig opening for The Bollands at Meow on the 2nd of March.

All covers used with permission.


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