8 March 2024, 06:00 (CET) Yulia Niko Drops Debut Studio Album: ‘TWINSOUL’
If there’s one word to describe Yulia Niko, it’s diligent. The Berlin-based producer and DJ is steadfast in her approach to her craft, today releasing her debut album ‘TWINSOUL’ on Armada Music. As Yulia stands poised at the threshold of the next stage in her artistic journey, she reveals profound mastery within her intimately crafted collection of ten tracks, each imbued with a deeply personal resonance.
Yulia’s musical origins begin when she was fifteen, after a car accident left her in serious condition, hospitalized for two months. To pass time, she dove into old Ibiza discs, trance and progressive tracks, Ministry of Sound CDs and classic house records, building up an arsenal of music that she later credits as being key to her recovery. A year later, she was playing her first gig. “To me, it's more than just music, it's my life and passion,” says Yulia Niko. “I was always the different one at school and university. When I first discovered my passion to play music, I found my way to stand out.”
Yulia reflects on her early 20s as the turning point in her career, when she moved to New York to study music production and improve her technique amongst local artists and renowned DJs. At this time, she was primarily listening to house, cultivating a deep connection with the genre: “House to me, is intelligent music,” Yulia explains. From a small studio in Bushwick, Brooklyn, Yulia zeroed in on her sound by drawing inspiration from classic Detroit and Chicago producers to meld a fusion of deep house, techno and progressive genres, defining her distinctive minimal style.
Now, at a pivotal moment in her career, Yulia is driven by her unwavering optimism to leverage the transformative power of music. The same philosophy permeates her debut album, ‘TWINSOUL’, a highly personal body of work that she produced in honor of her father after his death. Yulia considers the project a work of art rather than merely a reflection of her sound, experimenting with real instruments and live, original vocals to create an emotive and confessional opus tinged with an authentic human touch.
Entrancing listeners with its hypnotic groove and lush atmosphere, ‘Satisfaction’ spearheads the album, accompanied by the track’s official music video.
‘TWINSOUL’ is just the beginning for the burgeoning producer. “I am taking it super slow and easy, inching closer and closer to my goals,” Yulia says. “I’m on no one else’s timeline but my own.”
