NEEVA EVEN IF... EP

Hello. Today I had my first ever red "Forelle" pear. It was very sweet but not as juicy as regular pears. Perhaps it wasn't ripe enough. In any case, it was tasty.

Now that we have that out of the way, I'd like to introduce this very nice Italian producer called Neeva. With the IRL (In Real Life - of course, how could you not know that? but don't fret if you didn't, there's a first time for everything) name of Federico Orrù, he makes really nice electronic music. On his most recent release, the Even If... EP, he has collaborated with quite a few people both in terms of "featuring" artists and remix artists - it's nice to see because often you think of electronic musicians as quite solitary people.

I mean, they make music "on their own" don't they? So it's just heartwarming, in a weird way perhaps, to know that they are building strong communities. Neeva himself is quite active in his local community, collaborating with artists at galleries, for instance. Often this kind of thing has to do with "label-mates", as I've heard them called; in this case it would have been Russian label Ritmo Sportivo, but I don't know if any of those featuring are actually on/have anything to do with the label. Possibly/probably/most likely not (except Cream Child). Which makes my point kinda moot. Whatever. I could be wrong though. Nice to see collaborations, is what I mean.

And it can quite clearly influence the resulting sound of a song. For starters we have 'One Day' featuring Tokyo duo N-Qia. I wrote about this for Dummy magazine because I think it was my favourite from the EP. It's the most melodic track on the EP, with ghostly vocals from Nozomi and a frantic pots-and-pans beat, pulsing with orchestral synth. The remix of this one by Sun Glitters keeps the general sound but adds saw-wave bass and extra cloudy synth, turning it into a hazy dream of the original.

The rest of the collaborators keep things decidedly dark. Italian producer Grovekingsley provides a spooky-yet-urban spin on 'What', a nocturnal hip-hop beat underpinning solemn, murkily reverberating synths. Likewise, Mario Mereu helps provide the dark atmosphere on 'Tail' - an unearthly synth rises and falls in conjunction with low-end vocal samples. But around 1:30 in this track, something positive, a ray of warm, pulsating sunshine rains upon the gloom, joined by scraping glitched-out electric synths. But this darkness can be quite energetic, shown in Russian producer Cream Child's remix of 'What'. It's a towering, house-beat-led foray into the dark, industrial side of dark music. Like looking into the edge of a dark forest without actually getting lost in it. Bleeps twist and turn in the bleak water-moving-around-in-old-pipes sound. Pretty intense.

The only song that Neeva "does" by himself, 'Waiting For', is an ambient, bass-ear-massage that washes over you in tones of pretty chilled-out stuff. Gradually leads to a more distorted sound, more beset with percussion. Sounds like a deserted beach in winter. Scintillating synths rain down, clopping percussion zooms in at the end - a party is beginning - is that what we were waiting for? Who knows. It's nice anyway.

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Like Neeva on Facebook
Listen to Neeva on Soundcloud

Listen to Grovekingsley on Soundcloud
Listen to N-Qia on Soundcloud
Listen to Sun Glitters on Soundcloud
Listen to Cream Child on Soundcloud