She had to go her own way to get her 90s indie-infused drum’n’bass bangers heard. Now, after opening for Beyoncé, the performer is about to release her first album, a ‘quintessentially British record’
Nia Archives is a loud and proud junglist. When you dive deep into the West Yorkshire DJ, producer and singer’s discography, you might assume she was around during the genre’s mid-90s golden era. But being born in 1999 hasn’t stopped her from being nostalgic for an era before her own. “I love making the beats. I love making the drums. I’ve always loved the chaos of jungle,” she says. The 24-year-old’s recent rise has largely been down to the way in which her songs capture the energy and euphoria of the genre without being considered derivative or pastiches. It’s why drum’n’bass great Goldie refers to her as “one of our own”.
Since bursting on to the scene in 2020 with the melodic and soulful Sober Feels single, which she self-produced and promoted using her student loan, Archives has released a string of critically acclaimed EPs and been dubbed by the New Yorker “one of the brightest talents to emerge in the once again burgeoning field of drum’n’bass”. She has gained respect far and wide, collaborating with supergroup Watch the Ride (consisting of DJ Die, Dismantle and DJ Randall) on the club banger Mash Up the Dance and seeing her remix of Jorja Smith’s Little Things blow up on social media.
