Naaki Soul: A Love Letter to Meanjin Noise Pop

This Year, My Valentine Is Naaki Soul: A Love Letter to Meanjin Noise Pop

Real Life Is The Very Best.

Finding a valentine wasn’t hard this year. I found her at the train station. Naaki Soul are Meanjins finest emo/noise pop band, and I’ll shout it from the China Town carpark rooftop [blasting Valley song]. I had the chance to catch up with Anika (Naaki) and discuss their debut record Nylon Songs.

Words + Images by Day West

Anika thank you for taking the time to speak with me. 2023 was a big year for you/Naaki Soul. Your debut album Nylon Songs came out & you went on tour. What went into the making of Nylon Songs?

I started demoing some tracks such as Dreaming of Flying as early as 2020. That file on my computer had the working title ‘sdre’ for the longest time, because honest to God I was trying to completely rip off Sunny Day Real Estate. It was just years of slowly creating material as I saw fit, and sonic idiosyncrasies would make their way into the final form of the tracks as they got performed live over and over again with the band. Eventually, the culmination of all these visions got brought to life at Underground Audio. Chris Brownbill is such a wonderful person to work with, and I’m glad to call him a dear friend as well. I always wanted to just make an LP. For whatever reason, I feel like a lot of emerging artists are reluctant to put out full-length releases. I mean, if you have the material, just do it. Art is a right, and you are deserving!

‘Dreaming at Dawn’ is such a perfect start to the album. It sets the tone for a dreamy romantic coming-of-age tale. You have a lovely talent for combining romanticism and math rock elements in your music. What does an average writing session for Naaki Soul look like?

Thank you! I don’t really have dedicated writing sessions, because every time I force myself to create… it kind of sounds like shit. Inspiration comes really spontaneously for me. Sometimes I get an idea before bed or in a dream, and I will work on it non-stop for a week, and then sometimes for a whole month, I just don’t come up with anything. If I’m not actively working on a song, I am either listening to a lot of new albums, watching a lot of new movies, and I guess letting life take its course. Eventually, something stirs up my emotions enough that I simply need to make something about it. It either happens organically or it doesn’t happen at all.

As a young person in today's fast-paced digital age, where trends come and go quickly, how do you stay true to your artistic vision while also remaining relevant and adaptable to the changing musical landscape? Is there pressure to conform to formulaic trends?

I hate short form content so much! It viscerally upsets me that a 10-second vertical clip of me playing in a 9:16 aspect ratio will reach more people than the original, uncropped landscape video. I think we’re all pressured to drip feed our art to people so it gets more widespread engagement, and it really stresses me out having to promote stuff online. I guess at the end of the day, I’m going to make the music anyway so my minor grievances with the information age are kind of just background noise.

On the other hand, I think the internet is the most amazing resource in the world. It has enabled DIY scenes to converge online, despite being separated by state lines and oceans. Last year I had the privilege of meeting and playing with interstate pals Doris (NSW), who fucking rule. Furthermore, I think labels like Kitty Records are the future of DIY. There’s so many bands all across the world that could hop on a bill together, and it’s far more conceivable for smaller acts now than it would have been a few decades ago. Sharing ideas, culture, a love for music, cooking meals and crashing on each others’ couches on tour– I guess this is how we stay true to ourselves in the digital age.

What role does intuition play in your artistic process, and how do you balance intuition with rationality and intentionality in your songwriting and performances?

Sometimes I demo something a certain way and I get the band to listen back to the recording, and when we work it out live some things just sound better performed in a different way. For example, on one of my unreleased songs, I originally recorded a melody line for one of the verses. We got to playing, everything was loud as fuck and I couldn’t hear myself, so I screamed it. Ever since, I’ve only screamed it. Having a heavy rotation of skramz in my playlist during that time probably influenced that decision.

Your lyrics often touch on deeply personal and introspective themes. How do you approach the process of transforming your personal experiences into universally resonant messages through your music? Are there any particular themes or topics that consistently inspire your lyric writing?

I’ve been journaling consistently since I was a little kid. I think my lyrics are just a byproduct of a process that is already part of my life. As for universality, I don't think that is for me to determine. I simply write what I know, and like anyone else, what I know best is my own life, and my own experiences; the author is dead! The content of my lyrics is for my own catharsis more than anything, though content can be delivered in a myriad of ways. I guess, what you’re writing about is one thing, but how you write about it is another. With that in mind, some of my greatest lyrical inspirations of all time are Tim Kinsella (Cap’n Jazz), Phil Elverum (Mt Eerie), Jason Molina (Songs: Ohia), and Adam Demirjian (The Brave Little Abacus). I think there is a really delicate balance of abstraction and matter-of-factness that all of them navigate so seamlessly in their words. It is incredible, it is so poignant, it makes me cry.

In your opinion; What is the ultimate purpose of art, and how does Naaki Soul envision contributing to the broader tapestry of human creativity and expression?

I think everyone has a different answer to that question. I would probably still keep making music even if no one listened to it, until I get too old and deaf to do that. At that point I will write stories, and if I go blind I’ll get into sculpting. I think if I didn’t have plans to make something at all times, I would go insane. So really it’s survival, it’s the meaning of life.