NICKO Returns with “Bits & Pieces 1”
After releasing an ambient exploration in September, NICKO has returned with his third album, which takes a different approach. Bits & Pieces 1 was created solely with a bass guitar to flesh out the multi-tracked compositions. Although he only used a bass, the album has a wide variety of tones due to his creative use of techniques and effects.
One track that embodies the effort as a whole is “Mourned By A Mother Earth,” which NICKO explained to us in an email.
“It’s a concept piece that draws its inspiration from a powerful but overlooked moment in history: a contingency speech prepared by William Safire in 1969 for President Nixon, thankfully never used, that was intended for a public address in the event of disaster during the Apollo 11 Moon Landing Mission,” NICKO wrote. “There was a real chance that the spacecraft wouldn’t have enough fuel to leave for the return journey; and the speech was a solemn tribute to those brave astronauts who risked everything for exploration. You can find the speech online, it’s a pretty haunting read. I imagined a bleak alternate timeline and attempted to musically portray their stark realisation of their fate; of isolation and desolation, stuck on the surface of the moon.”
Bits & Pieces 1 is out now on Apple Music, Amazon Music, and more.
Bits & Pieces 1 Track List:
- Rise & Shine (2P Mode)
- What I’m Trying to Say
- Colours I
- An Unexpected Turn
- Rest
- Sending You Warmth
- Colours II
- Indecipherable Message
- Mourned by a Mother Earth
- Colours III
- Another Place
- Just Feels Right (2P Mode)
- The Reluctance to Let It End
- Pocket Money (2P Mode)
