We Spoke With Kursa & Alicia Kiah About Immersive New Album 'Nisky Hill' & More [Interview]

Representing a fresh step and a bold musical vision, Kursa and Alicia Kiah‘s Nisky Hill glories in its unrestricted composition and experimental dichotomy of sounds. It blends twisted yet enchanting strings with hard-hitting beats. Both producers’ style and artistry come together seamlessly with unexpected wonder in each track on the album.

Kursa is a legend in the experimental bass world, crafting otherworldly bangers for over a decade. Inspired by roots in London’s 1990s underground rave scenes, Kursa grew up attending acid techno, jungle, and breakbeat illegal warehouse parties. His label Slug Wife, as well as his collaborative project K.L.O, while no longer operating, was one of the hottest imprints in the underground bass music world in the last eight years and played a massive part in the scene. As Kursa moves forward and we see what is to come, expect the unexpected from this production titan.

Alicia Keia has seamlessly fused organic electronic sounds with her masterful classical prowess since 2011. She attended the Peabody Conservatory of Music and has lent her sounds to collaborations with huge names in the bass world like TRUTH, KOAN Sound, Thought Process, and 5am Trio. She’s also collaborated with Kursa in the past for their Snoozi collab project.

Kursa and Alicia Kiah’s latest LP finds its home on Of The Trees‘ Memory Palace, a music label that exists “To Fortify The Mind.” Of The Trees’ Memory Palace label has championed the next generation of electronic superstars, like EAZYBAKED, LYNY, FLY, and rSUN.

Kursa and Alicia Kiah’s newest collaboration, Nisky Hill, is a twelve-track journey into an unexplored, faraway world of sound. Nisky Hill rejects formality, inspiring listeners to find their own unique musical language.

Opening track “Candy Pearls” delivers an orchestral melody over an entrancing dance beat. Tracks “Krubera” and “Aqua Space” are dark and dub-heavy. “Foam” and “The Empress” are playful and chaotic. Each tune introduces new textures and elements that keep you guessing where these two brilliant production minds are going to go next.

We had the opportunity to speak with Kursa and Alicia about the creative process behind Nisky Hill, their recent listening party at The Black Box, plans for future projects, and much more. Check out the full Q&A below, and huge thank you to them for chatting with us for a HIHF interview!

HIHF: Alicia, when composing songs, do you write first, or do you experiment with your violin and build sounds as you get into a flow?

Alicia: It varies a ton. I enjoy improvising over eight-bar phrases or even longer phrases. I also enjoy writing more technical four-part harmony. Viola can start as the root of a song, and I write a string trio above. Sometimes I write the violin first, and then the instrumental/beat follows, or vice versa. It’s ever evolving and changing.

HIHF: Kursa, your live hardware sets are unpredictable and improvised. Can you share some of the equipment that you are using in those sets, and the experience of bringing production to a live setting?

Kursa: It’s an ever-evolving setup and approach, really, so the equipment is going to change almost every time. The one constant is the Elektron Octatrack – whether that’s for playing sliced up samples or processing and live looping external gear. Currently, the main sound source is a Leploop and but soon I’ll be building a small modular rig to synthesize everything from the ground up! It’s one of the most exciting audio journeys I’ve been on so far!

HIHF: Your collab project Snoozi had a release on last year’s Dome of Doom summer compilation. Are there any other upcoming releases or live performances in the works for this specific project?

Kursa & Alica: We’re so glad you asked! We have a few EPs in the works on the more lofi / organic chill-hop kind of vibe. All of our work, both Snoozi and Kursa and Alicia Kiah project, are being integrated into our full live set, which is currently in the development stage, but very soon to be fully performable!

HIHF: Nisky Hill is an album that has been two years in the making. Can you give a timeline of this process? When and where did you two meet, and what sparked the idea to create a full album together?

K&A: We’ve always been in each other’s respective peripherals through the music scene. For the past 13ish years, we’ve collaborated in similar circles, but our paths didn’t really cross until later!

Once we started talking about music and sharing various ideas, it was very clear that we had a similar unrestricted and broad curiosity.

Our first collaboration was a track called ‘Body of Snakes’ for a Japanese label called Murder Channel. It was for a project of making music to an art piece by Q Hayashida! (Manga Artist known for Dorohedoro) It’s a dark piece of art, so we delved into more dark, abstract, and avant-garde techniques. From here, we knew we wanted to explore a lot further.

Fast forward two years or so, and we had the chance to collaborate in person. As soon as we started, we couldn’t really stop, and we haven’t looked back since haha!

As far as the process goes, it’s incredibly fluid. We mostly just experiment until we hit something we’re both massively excited by and go from there.

HIHF: What is the creative vision behind Nisky Hill? Is there a deeper message or emotional experience that you hope listeners uncover from the album?

K&A: The main vision behind Nisky Hill was to explore sound, create a musical language together, and push each other as artists and musicians. This album questions our learned form in composition and production, it aims to challenge and oppose the norm.

We don’t really want to guide the listener too much and would prefer to let them decide what it means to them. That being said, we did want to inspire others and show them that you don’t have to follow a formula, and it’s far more important to honor your own voice.

HIHF: Kursa, you are from Bristol, UK, with a background in music production. Alicia, you are from Baltimore, MD, with 30 years of experience as a classically trained violinist. How did your different styles and backgrounds come together on this project? Were you developing ideas together, or was the workflow more remote?

K&A: We wrote Nisky Hill completely together. Every detail was chosen together. About 1/3 into the album being made, we realized that we had developed a collective flow state. I think having a lot of trust in each other’s own individual musicianship helped the project flourish. We were both open to trying new things and experimenting/breaking the rules. We both asked each other questions to create a continued narrative of curiosity.

HIHF: Your label, Plant Industry, launched last year and released the debut collab from you two, “Got Something To Say?” Will there be more releases this year through that label or any additional releases on Memory Palace? Is it something you are working on together as well?

K&A: For now, Plant Industry is going to be the home of collaborative works from us, primarily under the Snoozi alias for now. We’ve got a fair few different projects in the works, and we’re hoping to finalize and put at least 2 of them this year!

That being said, there is a lot of awesome music being made right now, and once we’ve put the work in to build the platform a bit more, we’ll be considering demo submissions.

As for memory palace, we really enjoyed working with them, and if we create something that fits, we’ll definitely be firing it over to them for consideration.

HIHF: Who are some fellow electronic artists you listen to often? Whether that’s just to relax or for artistic inspiration. Who are a couple of non-electronic artists you both listen to often?

K&A: We actually made a playlist during our album writing process. It’s on Spotify, called See Purple Light! We would go to this playlist a lot after doing car tests on wips of the albums. The playlist is comprised of varying genres of music. We think the overall theme would be electronic melodic. Our listening is extremely eclectic. We love jazz, classical, jungle, R&B, and hip-hop. Some artists include: Joe Pass, Alex Isley, Schoenberg, Dj Rum, and milye to name a few.

HIHF: Alongside the release of the album, you performed at the Black Box for a listening party and live set. We’d love to hear more about that experience and how the album translates into a live setting.

K&A: That was incredibly special to perform our album Nisky Hill. We enjoyed playing together. Sharing the synergy of sound on stage is an honor. We performed ‘Candy Pearls,’ ‘Mirari,’ and ‘Sea Urchin’ for our set. We did a play-through of each track of the album and shared little stories about the process behind writing each track. We used a torso S4 and modular unit to process the Violin and an Octatrack for the instrumental and drums.

There’s definitely a lot more to explore with the live work, and performing it together was the first taste of it that proved to us that we can actually do it! Exciting times ahead.

HIHF: Nisky Hill is bold, transformative, and an evocative portrait of sound that reveals the commitment to your art. Can you highlight some of your favorite moments from creating the project, or even just a stand-out favorite track from the album? I’m sure that will be hard to select, but we would be interested to see the tracks you each pick!

Alicia: Every track was extremely enjoyable to create. I have endless memories of writing this album with Kursa. I do remember writing with our Subsequent Moog and feeling the power of the sub bass within our writing sessions. Or adding high hats with the SP404. Processing my violin recordings for Foam was eye-opening for us both. I also loved our jam sessions of us just playing violin with guitar with some Chase Bliss pedals. Whether we were just getting chord ideas out together, or maybe exploring a melodic idea. It was always extremely magical. Oska is a fantastic guitar player.

Kursa: Honestly, my favorite track is whichever one I’m listening to at the time haha – They all hit in different ways and suit a variety of emotions and scenarios. I think that’s partly what I’m most proud of, it doesn’t have to be restricted to any kind of environment, and it’s a great listen any time / anywhere.

During writing, every single track had a “eureka” moment when we both just knew we had found the vibe of the track. Those moments of excitement are what collaborating is all about. When you don’t have to say any words and you both just explode with joy and wonder.

What did you think of Kursa and Alicia Kiah’s new LP Nisky Hill? Thanks again to Kursa and Alicia Kiah for chatting with us!

Let us know what your favorite track was down below. Be sure to show the two talented artists love online and on social media!

Follow Kursa: Instagram|Spotify|SoundCloud|Bandcamp

Follow Alicia Kiah: Instagram|SoundCloud|Bandcamp