Ninajirachi Looks To The Stars
The forward-thinking producer finds new sounds in open spaces
If Nina Wilson had it her way, she’d be able to record the sound of stars. The prodigious producer better known as Ninajirachi is back from a mid-week residency at Fern on NSW’s Central Coast and she’s still raving about the night sky out there. “I know it isn't a sound but the stars were the best thing about the whole trip for me,” she says. “It was so sick. I've got an app on my phone that you can hold up to the sky and it shows you what's going on in the constellations. It was just so clear!”
For Nina, who grew up in the area and only moved down to Sydney a few years ago, nature is her natural stomping ground. “Where I'm from, there's a lot of bush around and we have loads of birds around so I’m kind of used to it,” she says, “Now it’s definitely more trucks and ambulances outside my window."
Still in her early 20s, Ninajirachi has already put out a bonkers amount of music, including a significant chunk during the pandemic. A real stickler for sound, she’s continuously on the hunt for new ways to refine both her production and songwriting, which makes her a natural choice for Field Recordings. Her beats also attracted the attention of another Nina - Aussie music authority Nina Las Vegas - who signed Ninajirachi to her tastemaker NLV Records.
“On bigger projects, I feel like I really need time away to conceptualise. Otherwise, I just feel a little bit aimless.”
Listening to projects like 2019’s Lapland EP, which features bird calls among a host of other found sounds, shows how devoted Nina is to pushing the envelope of production. “I use so many textures from real world recordings all the time. So it's actually kind of a new challenge for me, but also super familiar,” she says of her task to use nature to inspire a new piece of music. “One of my favourite artists of all time is Cashmere Cat; I feel like that was a big inspiration here with those sorts of sounds.”
By pure coincidence, Fern is quite close to where Nina grew up. As a recent transplant, she’s all about getting out there to get some perspective. “[On bigger projects], I feel like I really need time away to conceptualise,” she says of her process. “Otherwise, I just feel a little bit aimless.” That includes leaving her only piece of hardware - her laptop - back home and letting her ears do the work.
Fern’s epic location is host to some pretty vocal residents of the both bird and buzzing variety, which Nina got down on tape. “The cicadas are mind-blowing!” she says. “They very much stay in unison as this big symphony would just get louder, to the point where you can sort of feel it in your eardrums. It was crazy.”
The cicadas are mind-blowing! They very much stay in unison as this big symphony would just get louder, to the point where you can sort of feel it in your eardrums.
If you’re wondering how a drone of bugs gets turned into your next favourite song, you’re not alone. “The thing about cicadas is that they were like, super tonal,” says Nina. “So the first thing I thought when I recorded those was ‘Oh, cool. This might become a great, weird melodic line.’ Nina loves discovering these kinds of audio Easter eggs, whether in the studio or the wild. “There's certain things I listened to in songs that I loved when I was like, 13, and I just couldn't tell why I liked them.” she says “But now I have the ear to analyse and [understand], ‘Oh, it's because they did that!’ It's so much fun...”
Expect to hear a lot more of Ninajirachi for the rest of 2021; her incredible work ethic hasn’t diminished in the new year. “I can't imagine how I would be getting all of this production and releasing stuff done if I was kind of playing shows at the same time. I hope shows come back, though. That'd be nice.”
We hope we can host a Ninajirachi show sometime soon. Until then, she’s always got her audience of thousands out here in the wilderness.
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From river-inspired funk to cicada-drive electronica, there's more musical goodness where that came from. Check out everything Field Recordings here.
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