Meet Athen’s Breakout Livetronica Project Nifty Earth; Get A First Listen Of The Spiritual Single “The Breath” [Premiere + Interview]

Nifty Earth hails from Athens, Georgia, home to the famous 40 Watt Club, Georgia Theatre, and the birthplace of many musical talents including Widespread Panic, R.E.M, and now the electro-acoustic, tribal grooves of Nifty Earth. This talented young project led by composer/producer, Joseph Thrash, has already been nominated for “Best Electronic Act” at Athens’ Flagpole Music Awards, seen radio time on WUOG 90.5 Radio, and had “Kick Back” selected to be apart of the AthFest 2015 Compilation Album.

We’re proud to have the opportunity to premiere “The Breath,” the first single off Nifty Earth’s highly anticipated, upcoming album, From Here. As if the chill, livetronica masterpiece wasn’t stunning enough on it’s own, the incredible album artwork by Moon Suk Lee captures “The Breath” visually as well for a full sensory experience. Joseph was kind enough to take the time to further discuss more details surrounding “The Breath”, how Nifty Earth got it’s start, and what we can expect from their upcoming debut album.

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How did Nifty Earth get it’s start?I’ve been producing electronic music since I was a freshman in high school. Since then I’ve gone through a bunch of different production software, instruments, and artist names.

I didn’t get Nifty Earth until my sophomore year of college when Charter Cable gave me the wonderful password “niftyearth726”.

From then on I produced music under that name. I never released much music until the start of my junior year when I was able to put out my first EP, Equal Plane. After the release I was able to gather live musicians to play said music with me (drummer, violin, saxophone) and perform shows around Athens, Georgia.

What inspires the Free Your Body ~ Open Your Mind ~ Uncover Your Soul mantra of Nifty Earth?The logo is called a Triskele. It is an ancient symbol that has appeared in many cultures that has a lot of varied meanings. For my interpretation, the three legs represent those pillars you mentioned (Free Your Body, Open Your Mind, Uncover Your Soul). The music hopes to accomplish each of these goals for the listener.

“Free Your Body” can most literally mean to dance and let go physically. “Open Your Mind” can be interpreted as involving yourself with the music mentally and socially, and being willing to accept others for who they are and what the stand for. “Uncover Your Soul” is the music trying to draw your inner self out, and to show how beautiful you really are to the whole world.

As seen in the logo, the three legs are moving together in beautiful synchronicity symbolizing the harmonious relationship of the trio.

Through these values I hope to establish a welcoming, loving, and nurturing community of life and music lovers.

How did Moon Suk Lee become involved with creating the art for “The Breath”?My manager, Jonathan, reached out to him actually. Kevin (Moon Suk) is a huge Pretty Lights and Emancipator fan like myself, so naturally I had an inclination towards wanting to work with him. He actually is working collaboratively with Doug (Emancipator) on pieces right now I believe. It’s pretty exciting for him I bet. Anyways, Jonathan sent over “The Breath” in a private Soundcloud file, and Moon was down. He created the visual representation, and I couldn’t be happier.

What can we look forward to on the full album?I’m aiming to have a very diverse sounding album. It’s been in the works for a little over a year now so there are many different styles I’ve tried – anywhere from chill-electroacoustic groove, to mysterious tribal breakdowns, and epic cinematic/orchestral sections. I’m so grateful to have had access to featuring the extremely talented musicians Megan Li (violin) and Jose Moran (saxophone) on the album as well.

Jose’s solo on “The Breath” is the sexiest thing I have ever heard come out of a sax.

I’ve also been working several local singers in order to showcase their vocal prowess on six out of the twelve album tracks, and I’m super excited to display their talents. Overall the album should hopefully give your body chills…I make sure each song at least gives me some.

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Connect with Nifty Earth:
https://www.facebook.com/niftyearth
https://soundcloud.com/niftyearth
www.niftyearth.com

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