NYIKO – Honesty LP (Trailing Twelve Records)

It took four years in the making, but it’s finally here in all its glory. Honesty is a magnificent album by NYIKO, an immensely talented solo artist based in Los Angeles who thought about every aspect of his debut material. However, in the meantime, NYIKO released series of singles and extended plays while working on his debut, such as You Know I Loved It EP, In The Middle, Bad @ Luv, Lust For Luv, In The Middle (Midnight Remix), 9×16, Dominoes, Crush, Lemon EP, 9×16 (Derek Simpson Remix), Lemon (Stone Irr Rework), and Runaway (Anywhere With U)(Party Nails Remix). Since 2020, NYIKO started announcing his debut material with series of singles such as Like The Movies, Keeping Me Alive, Glow, Call The Boys, Ghost In Your Dreams, and Make You Feel.

Honesty is one of those recordings you’ll love as soon as you lay down the vinyl onto your turntable and press the play button. Right with the initial beats of this material, you’ll hear nothing but the sweet, gentle, calmy tones that will leave a positive impression on you. This recording resonates in a very sophisticated manner, mainly because of the almost echoic atmosphere that pervades from every possible direction from scratch to finish. However, this material goes way beyond echoic shoegaze or post-rock ambiance. Perhaps the guitars are layered with generous portions of reverb, delay, and echo effect, but this material leans towards indie rock waters. Besides the exceptional indie rock musicianship, you may hear loads of elements like new wave, goth rock, goth-pop, dream pop, alternative pop-rock, but these ingredients are cleverly measured to fit the indie rock aesthetics.

You may hear the resemblance with renowned artists like The Cure, Black, Bleachers, Echo And The Bunnymen, The 1975, but it seems to me that The Smiths left the biggest impact on NYIKO‘s music. From various vocal articulations and visual identity to some arrangements and sonic aesthetics, you’ll notice how The Smiths influenced this experienced artist. Some song structures vividly resemble something The Smiths would eventually record during their career, but the NYIKO gives a special touch to this specific indie rock sound. Therefore, his music sounds fresh and unique from start to finish, without sounding bland, repetitious, and boring. Quite the contrary, you will solely grasp these subtle melodies, harmonies, and wondrously performed vocal segments. Honesty liberates calmy tones you never thought you need, and this is unquestionably one of those indie rock albums that appeal to all moods and seasons.

Honesty will be available on April 9th at all the streaming services, so keep your eyes peeled on this one. Also, I highly advise you to pre-order a vinyl record at Trailing Twelve Records. Until then, check out all the singles at Spotify, Soundcloud, or YouTube.