Nina Keith – “New Skin 16 Mirror Dream”

Post Author: Jeff Cubbison

Experimental composer shares another stunning taste of her forthcoming debut LP

Nina Keith is a trans woman composer and multi-instrumentalist from Philadelphia. Rooted in contemporary classical music, her style features intricate, layered piano arrangements laced with ethereal vocals, flutes, samples, and airy synths and electronic textures. She’s an experimental baroque star in the making who’s set to level up with her forthcoming debut album MARANASATI 19111, which arrives on August 30 via Grind Select. So far we’ve heard “Hereditary Trauma Dream Sprinting (Oxford Circle)” and “In The Woods We Both Saw It, Weren’t Dreaming,” and today Impose is thrilled to premiere the newest single off the record, the endlessly dreamy and heady “New Skin 16 Mirror Dream.”

Delicate piano chords are complemented by a series of looped vocals and a flurry of flute notes, yielding a wondrously trippy collage of sounds. Soon, Keith adds a swirl of fluttery electronic samples and swelling synths to the mix, lifting the track to stratospheric levels. The piano notes, meanwhile, become more stark and rapid, and the flute noises eventually come careening in at dizzying speeds. The song oscillates between sparse minimalism and more bombastic soundscapes – conjuring a spiritual trip that will forever mesmerize listeners. The track was mastered with deft aplomb by 12K’s Taylor Deupree.

“New Skin 16 Mirror Dream” is the latest offering from Nina Keith’s stunning debut LP MARANASATI 19111, arriving at the end of this month. The album centers on a dramatic personal journey, and is set in the woods, hospitals, and churches of Northeast Philadelphia. It “delves deeply into the memory networks of childhood. Inspired by her experience in EMDR therapy, Nina Keith explores a personal history marked by community tragedy and paranormal incidents, and seeks to create a more equanimous, reverent relationship with death and the unknown.” It’s a beautiful record, a powerful artistic and personal statement, and an absolute must-listen.

You can pre-order it HERE, and listen to “New Skin 16 Mirror Dream” below via Soundcloud.