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‘I want to bring the party up north’: Nia Archives on unleashing a Yorkshire rave revolution

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’

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”. Listeners can still expect to hear high BPMs, deep synths and rapid breakbeats, but Silence Is Loud has more melody, alt-rock-inspired guitar riffs and passionate vocals. I wanted to make a very quintessentially British record … I’ve always thought of jungle as really punk Archives lives in London, but she is deeply proud of her northern heritage.

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