With her debut LP, 2024’s Silence Is Loud, Dehaney Nia Lishahn Hunt, aka Nia Archives, emerged as the official torchbearer of neo-jungle. Skittering snare beats and booming bass parts defined the tracks, as did an assortment of strategically placed media and music samples. While Hunt’s vocals were distinct, she served as a DJ or MC as much as a singer. The album felt like a dance-club playlist cum pop montage garnished with dabs of shoegaze and moody rock.
If Silence was propelled by Hunt’s ambition to be the curator of jungle redux, her new album, Emotional Junglist, is more free-flowing in terms of toeing genre lines, and more organically eclectic in terms of stylistic choices. Key to the record’s seamless allure is Hunt’s use of analog instrumentation and live performances, a notable pivot from the splicing, overdubbing, and collaging that characterized Silence and her earlier EPs, particularly 2022’s Forbidden Feelingz and 2023’s Sunrise Bang Ur Head Against Tha Wall. The result is a vivid project that leaps from the speakers. Additionally, the songwriter’s impeccable pop sensibilities are brought to the forefront.
The clattery “Feelingz Go Numb” is as atmospheric as rhythmic. A droney bass contrasts with staccato high-hat sounds. Hunt’s vocals are layered and repetitive, occurring as chants or mantras filtered through various effects. “Around Tha Bend” shows Hunt interweaving bubblegum vibes and reggae inflections. The line “I’m a stranger to myself” is an apt lyrical complement to a deliciously disorienting mix of new-wave-y guitar licks, roiling bass throbs, and brisk percussion.
While Hunt has always aspired to hum-along songsmithery, Emotional Junglist features her most irresistible melodies. “This Could Be…” integrates spry beats, dreamy textures, and innocent vocal overtones, the verses as catchy as the chorus. Lilting string sounds on the bridge add depth and spaciousness. “I’m certain this feels different”, she sings, believably, even heartbreakingly hopeful. With “Vertical”, Hunt channels Amy Winehouse circa her Back to Black hits, albeit with a touch more swagger (“I’m not ashamed / I’m a river and you’re the sea”).
In “Dance with Me 2night”, Hunt is unexpectedly flirtatious: “Oh, with you it all feels so brand new / Oh, do you feel the same way I do?” Chamber strings add a Broadway/Hollywood flair. This could be the track that undrapes during the person-A-meets-person-B romcom scene, the interaction brimming with pheromones, endorphins, and fears put on hold. It could also serve as the closing song following the resolution of conflict—the quarrel, the brooding, the silence, the detente that leads to the what-a-relief/feel-good ending.
A guileless melody on “Superlust” belies a sophisticated aesthetic; percussive elements that increase/decrease in intensity and vocals that balance enthusiasm and restraint. “There Goes Ma Head” illustrates a witty absorption of 1980s and 1990s avant-pop. Sharp beats segue into austere textures. Strums evolve into chunky riffs. Hunt’s vocal is ethereal, blending weariness and optimism.
“Almost Always” sounds, at first listen, like a nonchalant ditty scrawled for a love interest, but on closer listen, takes on sinister implications. A woozy synth sound foreshadows trouble. Hunt’s vocals point to an obsessive fatigue that can often result in unfortunate behavior: the incident in the parking lot that makes the news, smartphone videos looping on Instagram.
In “Tha Darkest Hour”, crystalline beats are juxtaposed with fuzzy/hazy atmospherics, as Hunt continues to explore sonic possibilities, the album as a whole never losing cohesion. Her vocals nail that experience of being awake much later than you’d like, mulling over your relationship, your finances, and where your life is heading (or not heading). Closer “Boys in Blue” is built around crisp beats and wiry riffs, Hunt’s vocals and lyrics dripping with satire: “Brought coppers to my gaff / Did you think that you’d have the last laugh?”
With Junglist, Nia Archives mines familiar drum-and-bass gestalts, but deftly expands her interpretation of the jungle genre. Her songcraft takes center stage, her melodies wildly engaging, if not entrancing, her vocals emotionally complex. Junglist is a wide-ranging release, 15 tracks that capture a gifted artist and producer as she transcends her influences, claiming and reveling in her own bewitching style.