By Marisse Cato
It’s not unheard of for classically trained musicians to move to more popular music making. Hearing a well-crafted jazz piano lick or saxophone incorporated into an ambient track has been done. There are producers whose live keyboard or guitar skills give their tracks a new vitality. South-London raised and now based between London and Birmingham, DJ, producer and violist Noli (she/they) brings a different instrument to the forefront of production.
Noli says their viola is like their voice. Often thought of as a sort of underdog of the orchestra, they are giving the instrument the recognition it deserves on the radio circuit and in the world of production. She profiles the versatile sound of the instrument on her show Viola Vibrations with Voices Radio – improvising live over 80s ambient, hip-hop and jungle tracks. They move seamlessly between genres, making us listen to what unites these sounds across the session.
Inspired by production pioneers Aphex Twin and Arca, Noli is curating a really exciting idiosyncratic production and DJing sound in the era of remix and collage. Her SoundCloud is home to compelling DnB and jungle mixes of artists across Nia Archives, Egypt, Lauryn Hill, Asake and Tyler, The Creator to name a few.
We chatted about the freedoms electronic production afford you as an artist having come from the classical world. She says “a lot needs to change for it [classical music] to really be accessible to a younger audience”. Citing the works of groups like Manchester Collective who are creating this change, she notes “Classical music will always have a special place in my heart” but moving slightly away from it into production she feels she really has the space to “do my own thing”.
MC: When are we gonna hear the rest of that Frank Ocean improv on your insta?
Noli: Haha, it’s funny cos that is the first thing I made that I was actually proud of and made me think like, I can actually do this for real.
Noli’s “Duo”, for now exists as a snippet on their insta highlights. Her viola dialogue with Frank Ocean’s “Solo (Reprise)”, takes the track from a charged stream of consciousness with a bed of piano chords to a much more anxious, edgy, disjointed feel with the viola’s rounded tone cutting across Frank’s vocals. Pending 2024 to hear the rest.
Informed by her mum’s extensive CD collection of 90s hip-hop, SoundCloud and years of playing in youth orchestra, they actively listen to as much music as they can – “being a DJ, I feel like you just need to know so much music.” Currently an artist with Sisterhood Birmingham collective , she is excited by the growing queer and minority gender DJ collectives, Noli is keen to do more collabs, especially with other queer and female artists.
“In DJing, like it’s so male-dominated, and the patriarchy is real. So being in a space specific for all female, all queer people gives you the space to take expressive risks.”
For Noli, sound production is a bit like animation, specifically the meticulous work of stop motion. A lover of all things Wes Anderson, they said about the two mediums “there is so much detail in them…in production that you can’t even really hear… it adds that vibrancy to it. Every detail is thought about.” But she notes at the same time, with those details, “you can just keep going sometimes…you don’t know when to stop. Sometimes knowing when to stop is good. Gotta know your limits.”
Grounded and still exploring the possibilities, Noli is thinking across and beyond musical time and genre, creating energising and beautifully mixed sound patchworks in the studio and on the gig scene.
Keep up to date with her projects on Instagram @noliiitha, SoundCloud and TikTok @kingc0wgirl. Listen to her sets on Brixton Radio and Voices Radio online.
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