Berlin-based, Dutch-born audiovisual artist Liza Dries is set to mesmerize listeners with her debut album, “YOR,” slated for release by Intercept Records in February 2025. Leading up to this highly anticipated drop, Dries offers a tantalizing preview with the release of her first single, “Nightcore”.
“Nightcore” is an introverted-millennial anthem, elegantly wrapped in a hyper-pop soundscape. The track is underscored by lush, reverb-drenched vocals, scintillating Y2K synth melodies, and playful, jungle-esque drum breaks. Drawing inspiration from Owl City’s “Fireflies,” the song encapsulates the essence of a late-summer romance.
Penned during a self-described phase of “happy dumbness,” Dries uses “Nightcore” to delve into themes of love as a balm for unease and insecurity. As she puts it, “I’m trying to break away from the search for adrenaline rushes. Falling in love—or close to it—is the greatest high I know. It pushes both happiness and sadness to their extremes.”
The titular nod to the era of hyper-euphoric, fast-paced (nightcore), pitched-up versions of popular songs on YouTube, often paired with anime visuals, is intentional. The track’s high energy, jumpy synths, and epic builds channel an aesthetic of ecstatic joy.
“I read an interview by Danny L. Harle about Nightcore and its influence on his music and I found it very resonating to my state of euphoria at the time. The track came in a period where I felt like flying, but with a voice on the back of my mind questioning how long these feelings would last.”
This duality is mirrored in her lyrics, which weave a fragmented narrative through quirky observations and introspective musings, probing the sincerity of love and happiness.
“Say that you would fall in love, at times where it gets hard
Do you you feel the Nightcore
Or hearts on your backdoor
A life that you’ve longed for”
Dries elaborates, “There’s always a part of me that mirrors the traits of someone I’m into. It might be their accent, rituals, or even non-verbal quirks. When that connection ends abruptly, it causes a mental earthquake, forcing me to recalibrate my sense of self. Who am I really?”
The accompanying music video directed by Luna Grüsgen blends early 2000s aesthetics with Dries’ recurring theme of warping and questioning reality.
The audiovisual work of Liza Dries connects the immediacy of pop and electronic music with the ethereal. She released two EPs with the Cologne-based label Safe Space Records: Tegenkomer in 2021 and RL in 2022. “Nightcore” is part of her debut album, Year of Romance (YOR), which will be released in early ’25 with Intercept Records (House of Coloray, Tsepo, Ineffekt).
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Photo by @nikolaevalina
