Multi-layered harmonies, delicious drones, trippy beats, dark synths, and samples you've never heard anywhere before – if that sounds like your bag, you're gonna love Nównøis' first EP, EP1 • verses.

Nównøis, pronounced “no noise”, is a UK-based Hungarian composer, singer, producer, and performer. She makes what she calls "music for people who like being alone." Musically melancholy, haunting vocals, and lyrics that carry an honest vulnerability – desperation, even. Each track draws you in, fascinating the listener's ear with elaborate vocal arrangements, over otherworldly sound design that’s never conventional.

Having previously been involved in other projects under other names, this marks her entirely self-produced debut as Nównøis. Per her website, EP1 • verses was "written in fragments and built late at night between parenting, survival, and self-reconstruction". She also designs her own marketing materials and merch – impressive!

The EP kicks off with the 1min 30s short dignity, setting a lo-fi trip-hop vibe with minimalist, perfectly chosen samples, and introducing her unique, ethereal voice. Track two, distance, is a musically syncopated, deliberately dissonant piece. It is a commentary on the emotional distance that can form between two people despite being physically close.

Track three, rain falling, is probably my favourite of the five. It is simply beautiful, equally so across the music production and vocals. Nównøis proclaims powerfully:

As I grow strong, I can carry all your storms

Track four is the outlier in being the only instrumental, save for a repeated, spoken sample. dark tune only serves to highlight that Nównøis has an excellent ear for sound choices and arrangement – I really like this.

Track five, incomplete, brings a return to lush, layered vocal textures and head-nodding slow tempo beats. Full of emotion, she cries:

I'm incomplete…

I can hardly breathe, hold me!

These are songs that impact the listener. There is no soulless, throwaway pop to be found here!

Since Nównøis burst onto the UK electronic music open mic (EMOM) scene over the past year or so, I've been fortunate enough to see her perform on two occasions. In a live setting, the songs really command an extra level of power, making her performances mesmerizing. It is exciting that we can now take some of that music home with the release of this EP. If you have the opportunity to see Nównøis live – don't miss it, I guarantee you will get goosebumps!

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You can keep up with Nównøis on Instagram, YouTube, or the artist's website.