Nnja Riot Interview: “There is a shamanic quality to my music”

Like a sound-inspired spirit drifting through late night bars and the dancefloors of clubland, through the Nnja Riot lens, Lisa McKendrick makes moody noise music.

Also a part of the noise duo Isn’tses, with Nnja Riot, McKendrick has spent the last seven years juxtaposing mind-bending long-form sonics with short, pulsating sugar rushes of sound.

The new Nnja Riot dispatch, Violet Fields, sees McKendrick finding a happy medium, with a series of tracks that feel bleary-eyed, perceptibly dark, and oddly psychedelic, oscillating between the dark corners of the warehouse and open fields to watch the sunrise.

There’s a rawness to Violet Fields and it stems from a vitality of scouring the grimiest corners of DIY culture. Hailing from New Zealand and now based in London, McKendrick is well travelled, having performed across the world, including shows at Norway’s Piksel Festival, Canada’s Exit Points as well as Chaos Theory, Plastic Infinite NNNNN, IKLECTIKA and Corpora Aliena.

From back to front, Violet Fields is like a warped world inside a colourful capsule that promotes endless possibilities. The calming waves of opening gambit Horror Heat; the tech-house thump of The Evolve and lead track, Shimmer Zero; the avant-pop undercurrents of Dark Assassination; the withering sonics of the title track, and the skewed, unsettling vibe of Musical Fix. It’s a wonderful representation of the Nnja Riot oeuvre.  

Ahead of the Nnja Riot show taking place at London’s Ealing Extranormal on Saturday night, McKendrick answered some of our questions about her creative process, the influence of London, and Violet Fields.

Furthermore, exclusive to Sun 13, be the first to watch the video for Shimmer Zero below.

S13:What are your first memories of music?

Nnja Riot:“I think it was the soundtrack to Dr Who, which is kind of reassuring as Delia Derbyshire is behind that one. It’s good to know that this piece of music which was such a familiar tune was made in such an interesting way and [was] one of the first pieces of electronic music.

“I actually watched a lot of horror films when I was little, there was the late-night Sunday Horrors on TV and I would hide under the table watching cause I was supposed to be in bed. I think I liked the suspense, and that would have been partially ’cause of the soundtrack and sound effects.

“I also listened to traditional Mexican music when I was small ’cause my mother is from Mexico and I remember jumping around the room listening to records, they were kind of fun. One of my great uncles was a mariachi player and I remember we had some of his music on vinyl.”

S13: You hail from New Zealand, which is quite a contrast to London in terms of space and environment. Have both had an influence on your work?

NR:“Both have had an influence on my work. I think a lot of the deeper energy in my music comes from my experiences or connection to New Zealand – the space, land and wildness of the place the elemental forces of nature. I think some of that energy made its way into my music, but also I think New Zealand music often has a haunting dreaminess to it.”

“London has influenced me because I was exposed to so many kinds of music which were inspirational – seeing people do things outside of the box and the energy of so much music happening all the time. I really hope that spaces for experimental music continue to thrive here, as I think it’s really important that people have a platform for their ideas and to build communities. That is how I learnt to perform music, from having access to all the music spaces that have allowed me to grow as an artist.”

S13: Which New Zealand bands were you drawn to?

NR:“I was listening to The Veils a few years ago particularly liked the song Jesus for the Jugular, I liked the distorted vocals and general intensity of the song, I thought their whole album should sound like that song, like the Dead Weather or something.

“I think I’m a bit out of touch with NZ bands. I remember older bands like Split Enz, The Church, The Clean, Crowded House, Flying Nun records stuff from the pioneer days, but those were bands that were on the radio all the time and that’s how I know them. However, I like to rebel against pop music as I’m not keen on constant choruses and hooks which are formulas for mainstream audiences.”

S13: Can you shed some light about your creative process?

NR:“I think I work in a methodical but chaotic way that isn’t that linear, my process develops as I go along. For this album I started each song using the Octatrack as a sampler, first laying down the drums – usually one shot drum samples – to get a rhythm going that I can build on. I’ll think about the feeling I’m looking for in the song when deciding on tempo and stuff. I record a lot of the melodies by playing them on synths and keyboards to create my own recorded samples. Then I flesh it out with other instruments; violin, maybe guitar and also utilising a lot of my field recordings into the mix.

“Before any of this I will have collected a variety of sound and field recordings that I’ve recorded with my Zoom, and I’ll have downloaded a few sample packs for the drums and some ambience, I like to have all these ready so that I’ve got something to work with. I like to play around with what works and take advantage of happy mistakes when working.”

“I wrote the lyrics last, they are often taken from my notebooks where I write poetic fragments or automatic writing. Sometimes lyrics will come to me when I’m playing around with melody and vocals, and I have to be quick to write them down before I forget them. I like my lyrics to be open to interpretation, they seem to tell their own story rather than me deciding that I’m writing a song about XYZ.”

“Once I had enough tracks for an album I recorded my best songs on a 16 track digital recorder, which I use instead of a computer as it doesn’t create background noise when recording vocals. I then record a few more layers and over dubs, noises, backing vocals and melodies to finish it off then mixed it on the DAW. The whole process from writing the songs to finishing the album took a few years because I’m juggling many things and also performing, and I like to give it space to develop.”

S13: Violet Fields feels like your most complete work so far. Can you tell us about the ideas behind it?

NR: “After performing a lot of improv’ noise/experimental gigs I wanted to get back to songwriting and create songs that I could re-create live cause often my noise gigs were a one-off performance. I started to think in terms of intro verse, chorus or middle, repetition, outro and parts of the song that were instrumental, but I wanted to do all these things with my knowledge of electronic music and noise. I wanted the lyrics to be pretty sparse and focus on what the music was doing and to use the voice more as an instrument.

“It can be hard to explain my ideas as they are often abstract or can’t be put into words. There is a magic to it though and I like to have a few epic songs in an album, ones that really get under your skin and stay with you. I’m also drawn to mystery because music is a language of its own and is multi-dimensional. There is a shamanic quality to my music and to me that is the mysterious element. I think music is how we find out about ourselves, our soul/spirit/essence and our existence. With music I can look for meaning amongst my disillusionment and it’s a chance to look for my potential, to play out my best and worst parts and explore my experience as a human while visiting earth.”

S13: With a track like Horror Heart, I get a feeling that you want to take pop music to the darkest corners possible. Is that something you’ve thought about with the music you produce?

NR:“In this song I’m looking at the idea of how a heart can be filled with wonder but can also be filled with horror. Because horror is all around us, right, and it’s only fitting that horror should make its way into music. I like the way that a pop song can hold so many dark elements and yet it can be upbeat. To me Horror Heart is sonically the brightest song on the album. I’m often drawn to the darker themes in music, it’s just what I naturally do, but I also like sonic variation, so I let the music go to areas that are the opposite.”

S13: Sonically, with the likes of the title track and Musical Fix, there’s a real stark undercurrent that I think represents these times. Did politics influence these recordings at all?

NR: “Yes, absolutely the song Violet Fields is an overtly political song, and with recent live performances of that song it resonates with current times. With Musical Fix I wanted to push distorted sounds and vocals, it has a relentless distorted beat and strays away from any typical song structure. I think that in itself is a political statement but also it is a celebration of noise.”

S13: The release came out on Cruel Nature. How did that collaboration come about?

NR: “Cruel Nature Records have been on my radar for a while. I first became aware of them when I bought a CD by Woven Skull and so I had them on my Bandcamp collection and liked that they released music that doesn’t always fit a specific genre and it’s a diverse label. I felt my music would fit as my album is not specifically one genre. Steve [Strode] from Cruel Nature liked the album when I sent it to him, so we decided to ahead and release it.”

S13: Given your electronic leanings, are you someone that keeps up with technology and is always looking for new ways to present your art?

NR: “I keep up with technology by checking out the gear of other performers – after they’ve finished playing, I often go and look at what gear they are using, and people often also ask me questions about my gear after I’ve performed. The noise/experimental scene is a particularly friendly one and people are usually willing to share tech knowledge.

“I continually educate myself on recording and production of music through online tutorials and videos so then I can achieve what I want to achieve. There is often a visual element to my music with my live visuals so I’m often upgrading my camera to be able to take good footage for film editing. New gear can help to keep ideas fresh, and while I try and keep my setup fairly consistent it can be great to have a new toy to play with, a new costume or an entirely new set up.”

S13: How much do you think your work reflects your personalities outside of creativity?

NR: “That’s a hard question really, most of what I do is creative, and I mostly relate to other people creatively and that is probably the best way to get to know me. I always like experimenting and trying different things, and I think I do this in all walks of life. Emotionally I don’t know, I think I walk the line between chaos and order.”

Violet Fields is out February 23 via Cruel Nature. Purchase from Bandcamp.