Nacht 84
Imagine The Notwist and Andy Stott throwing an illegal rave at an abandoned amusement park - that's the sound of Nacht 84. Nacht 84 is a livingroom-producer based in Berlin. He is an alumni of the Folkwang Institute of Pop-Music and was part of the band Tired Eyes Kingdom. Nacht 84 is his underground-pop project, where he is exploring song structures and writing and performing lyrics.
Who is the "human" behind the artist "Nacht 84" and is there a story behind the project name?
Hi, my name is Felix, I’m a producer & musician based in Berlin and I’m the human behind Nacht 84. There’s not really a story to the name. I just always liked cities at night and I felt the word Nacht resonating with my music. Because there’s a lot of artists called Nacht, I pulled the old Hip Hop Move and added my year of birth.
"All lights down" sounds fantastic, who or what was your inspiration?
Thank you so much! In the beginning I only had that first melody and vocal line. I was riding my bike and I had to stop to sing it into my phone. Weeks after this I listened back to it and started composing. There was not an overall inspiration but when it came to record & mix the vocals I somehow had the voice of Damon Albarn in my head.
It's the first release from your upcoming album, what can we expect from?
The album is a collection of songs that I’ve finished during the pandemic years. It's quite diverse in styles, ranging from instrumental Trip Hop tracks, to short cinematic soundscapes and more pop-oriented songs.
There are also some great artists on the album, like the cellist Marie-Claire Schlameus (Tricky/Toechter) or Berlin producers TCV and FOOOL. I think this album is for people who like 90‘s Trip Hop and stuff like The Avalanches, Blood Orange or Space Afrika.
Nacht 84 is 100% independent, what's in your opinion the hardest part being a DIY artist?
It's definitley a choice that comes with some ramifications. For example: Once you finished all the creative work, it's solely on you to go out and promote your music, take care of distribution etc. So once the work is done, work starts all over again (Cheers Sisyphos!).
On the upside, you keep all the rights, make all the decisions and you don’t have to make compromises.
"All lights Down" related to Berlin, a city that never sleeps, isn't it?
Haha, yes it sort of got related through the musicvideo we’ve made for the song. It became our little audio-visual tribute to the highs and lows of Berlin nightlife. Something that everybody on the team felt related to. For me personally the song doesn’t have a fixed meaning. But I do like the association with being lost in a city that never sleeps.
Your next single will be out soon, please let us know more about it.
The single is called ‚The Baggage‘ and it’ll be out on March 31st. It features my dear friend Elif Dikeç on vocals and keys. Elif and I studied together at the Folkwang Institute For Pop in Bochum and this song was the first thing we’ve ever worked on.
After that, we’ve formed a band with two friends and did two albums together. But somehow ‚The Baggage’ remained untouched on my hardrive. When I finally opened it up I ran into some difficulties finishing the song. But luckily we found Joelle from Hamburg who masterfully contributed the spoken word part. Now I‘m super happy that the song will finally see the light of day.
...and last but not least, are there any chances to see you somewhere live on stage?
Yes, definitely. Can’t give any dates yet but I’m working on it!
Photo credits: Yuriy Ogarkov
