Nina Belief: So Unfamiliar

You can find Nina Belief's Facebook page here.

I came to this show with no prior knowledge of Nina Belief's music or career. I had however been meaning to visit Monotone - a second-Saturdays party featuring minimal electronic music - and her performance seemed like it could be interesting, all the more reason to go. The venue was in the bar lounge behind Moonchine Bistro on Biscayne Boulevard; a small dark dance floor that glowed red like the underbelly of a steampunk city. I met her an hour or so before she went on. She was wearing the largest shoulder pads I had ever seen outside of high fashion, and her black hair was tied up tight into a "sculpture-roll" do. She was very pleasant and friendly, with an intense gaze, as I soon found was a part of her that also played into her midnight performance. The tight-packed crowd of no more than 80 people, impressed, said things like, "She's really into the music" and "She's so good, she's programming all that live, nothing was pre-recorded!" About eight or nine songs were played, and Nina Belief efficiently and quickly transitioned between them, taking us through passages of analog keys, resounding bass, rapid snare rhythms, electronic howls, fragile high registers and other sounds that, as I watched her turn knobs and press buttons, amazed me with the way they fell into place as music. The way she compiled them into layers was mesmerizing to watch and listen to. As her calculated movements were driven by the music, she belted out lyrics that seemed more pensive and despondent than probably caught by most people present. At the end of her set, I purchased her second LP Shivers, from which she told me afterward she played three songs. Her final song, a slow throbbing composition, was the first track on the album, titled Little Disasters. I look forward to listening to more of Nina Belief, and to see her again performing in Miami. You can read her interview with Soir Zine in Print Issue 3 coming at the start of 2015.

We tried to get the best photos we could, but her music was so captivating we had to sway our bodies at least. Photo credit to my friend Ian Duffy.

See some snapshots of previous Monotone events at http://www.oninstagram.com/profile/monotone_miami.
Nina is on this record label: http://www.no-emb-blanc.com/.