Birds flutter over rolling green, basslines twists in dance with the violin phrase. This is not a fever dream, it’s the gorgeous idyll of Kursa and Alicia Kiah.
Once in a while, a project will emerge from the soundscape that simply cannot be defined by genre or style. Kursa exists as an artist at the edge of dub, acid, rave; working in musicality that ranges in influence as much as origin; whether that be classical, jazz, breaks, setting himself apart through his sonic identity and an approach that refuses to be boxed in by definition. A familiar collaborator, there are many strings to Alicia Kiah’s bow; an accomplished musician in her own right; professional violinist, virtuoso and lover of bass who operates in a similar style, melding musical styles beyond just a sample on an amen break, instead turning elements on their head in her stylistic production work. It’s a familiar concept for fans of bass music, subgenre crossover we know and love, but the Nisky Hill album takes it ten, twenty leagues forward in true experimental chaotic beauty.
Released this summer, Nisky Hill is at its core, a love letter. To musicality, bass music, creative spirit, the earth and even life itself. The real life location is as other-wordly as the music, as both explain in conversation. But what makes this so special, is that it’s as much a celebration of the pair as it is of their sounds, the 12 track experimental dubstep paragon is an emotional masterpiece of production. Alicia Kiah’s soul stirring strings are layered, retextured and woven in with trademark Kursa motifs; deft sound design and emotionally riffing, evolving breakdowns. Each track tackling a conceptual anchor that plays out in a true collaboration of the two’s talents; Mirari, Nameo and others intertwining melody and structure in an audible partnership.
When the alchemy between two artists is so right, it produces precious gems for music makers and listeners alike. Musical borders are continuing to blur and it’s an exciting time for the scene as much as it is for the musical partners – the album certifying the start of a long winding road of radical creative partnership. We needed to know more and sat down with the two to discover the story of Nisky Hill, their thoughts on movements in music right now and the age old question of favourite biscuits.
Hi, What’s been going on today?
Alicia Kiah: We went for a walk this morning to get some nerves out and it’s perfect weather, about seventy degrees fahrenheit, which I think is eighteen degrees celsius.
Kursa: I’m now thinking in American numbers for the heat, which is weird. I said chips instead of crisps the other day as well. My mum told me off.
We’ll forgive you. It’s been a grand summer for you so far and post LP release. But first, we need to know – how did you both meet?
Kursa : So we’re musical partners and partners now, but the music came first. We worked together on a track in 2012, we did a remix for Statix under the alias Vexisle and Alicia had violin parts in that, but I never spoke to her at all. We were in each other’s peripherals without even being a part of each other’s lives back then, a strange, weird connection.
Alicia Kiah : We started out organically writing music with zero human communication, completely virtual. Then I think it was 2021, he reached out to me then saying, ‘I have this tune with a bad splice vocal sample and I was wondering if you could do something different.’ So we tried writing a tune virtually together then eventually met in real life in 2022 where he planted the idea of writing an album together, to which I said ‘sign me up!’. Oska had a tour in the US in April and that’s where the idea started and when we actually started writing.
We’re in love with how it all came together. We loved the emotional depth of the LP. Tell us the story, where is Nisky Hill, what does it mean?
Kursa : It’s been a big, long, deep project. We’ve tried to keep it as honest and personal as possible. The actual place, Nisky Hill, is very close to where we live. It’s a cemetery, ancient for America, from the 1700s, site with these monolithic graves and tombs everywhere, mausoleums. It’s next to a river and the other side of the river is this gigantic abandoned steel factory. You’ve got this crazy juxtaposition of nature and death and this huge steel factory.
Alicia Kiah : But then simultaneously being surrounded by a forest of trees, birds, bunnies and groundhogs. You feel like Snow White walking through it with the birds singing and these insanely old three to four hundred year old trees. And I love trees.
Engines of life 100%…
Kursa : It was our sanctuary through the whole writing process, we spent so much time there and that’s where that idea of romanticism within music was spurred on. It was also this obsession with nature and idea of taking away the technicalities of it all and really focusing on what music is. All these themes are present in the LP. And seeing the graveyard there but being surrounded by nature and then a monument to a dead industry just sitting across the river too, all those juxtapositions were truly inspiring.
Alicia Kiah : That’s why every time we would write, we would take breaks walking in Nisky Hill, trying to find new ideas, or just talk through stuff. So when the project was finished, I thought it was a good idea to call that place out because that was our, as Oska said, our sanctuary and inspiration.
Kursa : Credit to Alicia for that. That was your idea entirely.
Alicia Kiah : It was both our idea!
Oh you guys! It’s a beautiful representation of your process and partnership. What was your favorite part about creating this?
Kursa : Getting to work together constantly. All we ever want to do is talk about music or write music or sound, we’re the most boring people in the world.
You’re living the dream!
Kursa : Haha maybe so! It can get real grinding, but yeah we just love making music and we get to do that all the time.
Alicia Kiah : I think truly trusting each other’s strengths and leaning into those, but also completely switching it up and supporting each other to do what the other feels more comfortable in, was what we defined as emotional honesty and what I really loved about this. We trusted each other, whether it was trying something new for each person, or trusting in the skills that we’ve been honing for 20 years.
Kursa : That was a big part of it, sitting with uncomfortable feelings and being okay with them. I’m quite known for the heavier styles and playful things, but not really so much for something as deep and emotional. Alicia’s take on melody, I think, is heavily emotional. That for me was a slightly uncomfortable kind of feeling. But I think you’ve got to be uncomfortable to do something quite vulnerable and honest in music, you have to pour your heart out.
This is this music to our ears (sorry, couldn’t resist). You’ve both been through evolutions of style and taste; what are your music philosophies?
Alicia Kiah : A lot of my musical expression comes from explaining the things that can’t be verbally explained. Life’s frustrations, things that are unfair, that just happen because it is the way it is. Music is a way to express emotions that can’t be expressed. I love tying in all of the music theory I’ve learnt. I’ve played almost every Beethoven symphony in orchestra. I try to use all those melodies and fuse them into my ideas as well as folk music, because I used to play a lot of Ukrainian folk melodies : I’m half Ukrainian. My style is a weird hybrid sploosh of it all.
Kursa : My view on it changes day to day. But recently in the past few years, it’s relentless, healthy self indulgence. I want to say what I want, exactly how I want to say it. It’s totally fine to take influence from the outside and from anyone else’s music, but I think you have to be incredibly self focused to actually figure out what it is that you have to say. Complete self indulgence is really what my philosophy is, because otherwise, it’s somebody else’s message.
We’re big fans of this : and the sploosh. What do you think artists these days need more of?
Kursa : Less! Haha, there’s just too much of everything at the moment. There’s too much saturation of everything. I think we’re in the era of overconsumption and there’s just all of this trash you don’t really need for a satisfying life. And thinking about music, one of the things I’m hearing a lot of is just copies of things and I would love to see artists putting down the trends for one sec and just embrace ‘less is more’; like I was saying, find their own voice and think about what they personally have to say. It’s difficult to say any of this without sounding like a total
chin stroke. I’m very aware that I prefer experimental sounds and that some people prefer the comfortability of nostalgia and bootlegs and that’s absolutely fine. But let’s have some new ideas!
We hear it! We always need evolution and revolution. Who are you looking to for inspiration right now?
Kursa : Definitely need to shout out Coido, Combine, Two Swords, Hijinx. Christ, Sepia, always as well. These people inspire me all the time. Oh, and Necromancer, I love where music’s at right now. It’s a different era for drums, the technical side of it has really been blown out as you can search how to do anything now. As far as being a technical producer or musician, that’s a lot easier than it’s ever been before if you’re willing to research it. The interesting thing for me is doing everything that’s not technical : just purely focusing on what the vibe is, what kind of atmosphere you’re trying to create with your music. Anyone can mixdown well now. Having really interesting conversations with your music is what’s happening now, which I think Coido has really been at the forefront of, focusing more on the feelings created instead of how to clip a snare to get the right effect.
Alicia Kiah: Some of my major influences right now are Geode and Himlia. I love the deep melodic flow that those two producers are creating. It’s really weird stuff. I’m also really enjoying listening to Two Swords, 1tbsp, Mystic Sate, Øz and Deft. My listening is pretty all over the place but I do find a lot of sonic inspiration melodically from serialist composers like Schoenberg and romantic composer Brahms.
Nisky Hill really embodies that for sure.
Kursa : Thank you. It goes in waves. We’ve had the bootleg wave, the garage resurgence. And yeah for us, we’re just trying to keep pushing forward and exploring the sounds we want to make.
Alicia Kiah : With the LP, what we tried to do with all our instrumentals really and the violin itself in that, was transform the strings and put them into the song so they became synonymous with each other in one voice, instead of just playing a simple melody over some drums.
Kursa : In a lot of the tunes the bass you’re hearing is originally coming from the violin; a note that’s being plucked or struck, or the body of the violin itself just being knocked against something. All these things can become something else with experimentation.
What do you love most about each other as artists?
Kursa : Alicia’s experimentation is something that spurs me on. The constant ‘what if’, it’s really inspiring. Sometimes I get very stuck in my own methods and I’ve got my formulas, but with Alicia, the way you look at things and the way you pull things apart, you’ll see something I’ll never see. That experimentation and that curiosity inspires me.
Alicia Kiah : That’s extremely kind. Oska’s experimentation is inspiring, but it’s more your musical voice that he has when he’s writing chords or playing the guitar, I love that. We jam a lot where I just play violin and he plays guitar and the most inspiring thing is his musical voice. I’ve gotten to know it pretty well. I still have a ways to go, probably another ten years before I can even remotely begin to understand his musical voice in a deep way. I also love his artistry through drums, he can truly always find a melody in drums. That was something I was really curious about. When I was in music conservatory, there was a percussion group that did ensemble work where they played all together, all fifteen of them, John Cage type pieces. That sparked my initial curiosity where I thought, can drums be a melodic part of a track? Then when I met Oska, he showed me yes, they can! His musical voice is beautiful, I love it.
Guys! Thank you for being so candid, we love this. These connections are really palpable in your live performances too. Where do you feel most at home when you’re playing out?
Kursa : This wasn’t live but a couple months ago we played Blackbox in Denver and did a listening party there. That was amazing, because we could be right down in the crowd and immediately talk to anyone listening and see how they felt about the music and what excited them about it, which was such a unique experience. But then playing outside onstage at Submersion festival was just… the biggest rush I think I’ve ever had musically when we actually performed together in an outside environment.
Alicia Kiah: That festival was special, all our friends were there, it was on our home turf based out of Philadelphia, it was still warm out. Onstage it felt like we were sharing an electric bond where zero words were being said or needed to be said. I felt like I was vibrating with Oska on stage, it was thrilling – like a transcendental moment where I was floating above myself. So it was quite literally near home but also the best shared performance experience.
Performing together must be an exhilarating experience for both of you. What’s your local community scene like in the U.S.? Are things shifting out there?
Alicia Kiah : The communities are really small right now but they’re very confident and powerful. I feel that the online image is maybe not so prevalent compared to the conversations that’s happening between the individuals at the party. I think that’s true at least for how rave is evolving in the States. Nowadays you can go to a rave no matter where you live. It’s blown up so much. But I do feel that eventually people are going to want to find something niche instead of these big events.
Kursa : I think people just want something genuine and that’s true in scenes across the globe. There are many new micro cultures coming through but they’re fragmented right now. It’s so exciting. I’m hearing different styles and experimentation from the producers around me. Probably because I’m constantly drilling it into my production students ‘just do weirder shit!’
Is that a fundamental of Kursa production school?
Kursa : That and more recently I’ve pushed them to just have more confidence, put yourself out there. That really translates through to everything, even DJing : if I’m standing dead still and not emoting at all, no one’s going to move in a room. But if you are enjoying yourself on the stage, everyone else is going to enjoy themselves too. I think there’s something really to be said about putting confidence out there, for energetic music. And etudes as well, this is something we’ve practiced a shitload in our music. Actual practice is really important. Setting yourself a very clear goal of something to practice and just working on that.
Alicia Kiah : Etude means a study, and is used a lot in classical music. It’s only a technical exercise when you’re playing your instrument. With producing you need to set some boundaries, then more creativity can come through when you give yourself these kinds of parameters to structure your time.
Practice makes perfect! Let’s establish some more fundamentals, what is the one essential studio snack?
Alicia Kiah : Mint Tea. I’m obsessed. I visited London for the first time in January. I had to drink twenty cups of tea every day. I’m never going back, I understand it now!
Kursa : You’re a convert now, I’m very proud. And biscuits too!
What’s your favourite biccie?
Alicia Kiah : I think it’s McVities Dark Chocolate Hobnobs?
Kursa : And there’s another one you love, with a piece of dark chocolate on top that’s slightly bigger than the biscuit. Bahlsen’s I think they’re called.
Absolutely stunning. Can’t forget about custard creams though.
Alicia Kiah : Oh I’ve never had them!
Kursa : Your life is about to change.
Hard agree. If you could leave a message for your future self what would it be?
Alicia Kiah : Rosin your bow!
Kursa : Haha, you left a pot of boiling water on : please remember! Just remember the little things. Remember the small moments in life as they’re more important than you think.
Alicia Kiah : And honour yourself, your own needs and your own curiosity. Honour your curiosity.
Kursa : I’m going to go with what Alicia said. It sounded way cooler.
We love this. And what’s the key to a great studio?
Alicia Kiah : That’s hilarious because we wrote the whole LP in multiple studios in our apartment. There were times when the studio was extremely unideal, it was just a set of speakers, a corner desk and a boomy room.
Kursa : I think good ideas transcend any studio. You can make something great with anything, I’ve seen people make incredible music on GameBoys. The idea will transcend whatever studio you’re in, that’s it. And you can’t be bound by the technology, because all that shit can break.
Creativity doesn’t require all the gear indeed! What genre is the most exciting in bass music right now and why?
Kursa : I mean, it doesn’t even have a name, it’s whatever Coido is making. Him and Two Swords who used to be Hyroglyphics. The stuff that he sends me just blows my fucking mind. Before bro step happened, the future garage movement was alive, 123MRK etc, where you had jazzy, skippy, syncopated music which disappeared for a while. But it seems to be coming back around again. That’s what I’m hearing in people like Coido and Two Swords, a new kind of two steppy rhythms. Boofy and Neffa T too, they are so on this movement. Dubstep is making a return as the big, broad experimental genre it originally was. There’s a very conscious movement amongst the producers and the conversations happening right now which I find really interesting.
We’re hearing that in our own listening explorations for sure. What’s the next big project for the pair of you?
Alicia Kiah : We are well into album two. We have about eight or nine tracks in the mix but it could absolutely change. It’s definitely different.
Kursa : We’re in the middle of deciding how to perform it live. Now that’s becoming more important, as to how we actually present our live projects and different ways of doing it. Do we use just hardware? What effects are we using? Do we need a laptop? How improvisable do we want to be? Sonic anchors are very important in the set and it’s all very melodically based. So there’s only a certain amount of improvising you can do without it sounding a bit too jammy, but we want to keep it different every time someone sees it. That’s the biggest thing we’re working on at the moment is, this live presentation of this style that we have.
Our eyes will be on the lookout for that! What else is coming up this year that we should know about?
Alicia Kiah : We do have an alias called Snoozi and we just finished an EP under that alias. That will be coming out very soon, before the end of summer!
Kursa : That’s our alias for more beatsy, weird alternative music. An Alicia Kiah and Kursa piece of music is going to be a psychotically obsessive, detailed piece of music. Snoozi is our relaxing, meditative, chill beats project.
Exciting!! We love the balance. Finally, is there anything you’d like to add?
Kursa : If there’s any chance that anyone actually spends time listening to our music, no one has to do that, so that’s always quite an honour. Thank you to everyone who enjoys what we do!
Alicia Kiah : I really am so incredibly honored to collaborate with Oska. I am thrilled to see artwork that is inspired by Nisky Hill from listeners. That has been a detailed layer that has brought me immense joy. Keep creating art !
Follow Kursa: [SoundCloud] / Follow Alicia Kiah: SoundCloud
