An intimate ambient soundtrack to the ups and downs of 2022 from the perspective of experimental producer and sound artist Nexcyia.
Nexcyia is the musical alias of Adam Dove, an African-American/French sound artist and ambient musician who splits his time between London and Paris. His artistic practice, which encompasses sculpture, installation, painting and moving image as well as sound art, explores notions of alienation and otherness in the African-American experience. “We never really speak about the sonification of race and the racialisation of listening,” Dove told The Wire in 2022, discussing his 2021 installation INTER(FEAR)ENCE. Inspired by the Black sociologist and civil rights activist WEB Du Bois’ idea of a “transparent wall”, he placed a speaker underneath the glass of a car door playing a muffled recording of the late Sandra Bland, a Black victim of US stop and search policies. “Black and white people can only see each other, today, they can’t hear each other,” Dove said.
The notion of otherness is something that he explored in his stunning 2020 debut EP, Crawl, released on London’s Alien Jams label. Across its six deeply layered compositions, Dove combined manipulated found sounds with granular synthesis to create intimate expressions of his inner experience through vast ambient vistas peppered with delicate textures. On his follow-up, the Origin EP released on Cafe OTO’s in-house label Takuroku, Dove crafted a broader meditation on place, time and being.
When recording his Fact Mix, Dove opted to approach it in a personal a fashion, as he would when creating one of his own records. “I started recording the mix on laptop back at my family’s house in the suburbs of Paris,” Dove says. “The mix conveys different moods throughout 2022 – I see it as a soundtrack and wanted to keep a memory of how the past year has been so crazy for me. The energy intentionally changes throughout the mix almost reflecting the ups and downs of that time, dealing with mental health, chronic illness, losing my grandfather Clyde Vernel Dove, moving house three times because of shitty situations.”
“It’s also the longest mix I’ve recorded so I wanted to compile something special with all my favourite artists,” Dove says of the mix, which includes music from Racine, Stone, crimeboys, Florian T M Zeisig (as spool), Igor Dyachenko, mu tate and arad acid (as dj bathtime). “The mix starts off and ends with Barcelona based artist Nueen – I first heard the track ‘Link IV’ on a mini UK tour I did with him November last year in Glasgow and Manchester. The tour was organized by the lovely Conna Haraway & Deep Softy who run INDEX:Records – we also had the amazing Slowfoam on tour with us.”
Nexcyia will be touring in February and March 2023, playing several dates in London, as well as shows in Florence and Madrid – find more info at his website. Follow Nexcyia on Instagram and SoundCloud.
Tracklist:
Nueen – Link IV (forthcoming 3XL)
Stone – Guh
gab_i – stasis_relief_
Xenia Reaper – Stereo Dipole [APPX-09]
crimeboys – deja entendu (dub) (3XL)
AshTreJinkins – zonedOwt [1 for Tre] (2016)
duun – Losing Track With Discosexo
Corell – Under the Surface (forthcoming Appendix.Files)
dj bathtime – subzzero-_+
Igor Dyachenko – melt
Slow Attack Ensemble – November, 1st in Detroit
Oliver Coates – Forest Arrest/Search For Body
Unt – For The Love Of Money 1 (forthcoming)
DJ Birdbath – to see (forthcoming Appendix.Files)
DJ Birdbath – spec (forthcoming Appendix.Files)
mu tate – salt cat
mu tate – me when u (forthcoming)
crimeboys – red shift (3XL)
Joseph Theodor – What Are You Thinking About
Bogdan Simeonov – somewhere else
Racine – Le clocher de Hamelin_M (forthcoming)
McGregor – fuse_0xe5(d1)
OL – 1Bar (formyset mix)
crimeboys – Deja Entendu w- James K (Single Version) (3XL)
usof – Brat
Corell – G7 (forthcoming Appendix.Files)
editer h – no culture (shiner’s edge remix)
spool – its alright, seven 1 (forthcoming)
Nueen – Link I (forthcoming 3XL)
Listen next: Fact Mix 891: Richie Culver
