Indie Light

Nep is the performing name of Nikki Anderson, a singer/songwriter and musician from Florida. Today I’ll be reviewing her album ‘Nep’s Storybook’ which was released June 7th 2024. 

‘Lovelace’ opens slow, melodic synthy chords and spoken dialogue that explodes into high energy guitars and vocals from Nep that immediately captivated me as the listener. The accent enhances the folky and quirky performance, but there’s no denying her voice is rich and melodious and that she just absolutely nails this opening performance. 

‘A Big Brown Dog Named Bagel’ also kicks off slowly, and as mentioned before, Nep’s voice is just truly phenomenal, she can bounce between soft and soulful and high energy and volatile with ease. You just get genuinely absorbed in her performance. I really liked the trashing guitars that acted as a nice counterpoint to Nep’s voice, and the high tempo and low tempo sections which add a nice texture and balance to the track overall. 

‘Flower Girl’ really captures the storybook feel, with orchestral swells and her pure and vibrant vocals, it has such a good vibe, and you get to keep seeing Nep evolve and explore her voice and musical talents throughout this track, and album as a whole. 

‘Cottontail’ kicks things up in terms of energy, a full cacophony of glorious strings that create a warm and inviting backdrop to her superb vocal performance. I love the country feel of this song, it just gives the whole thing such a pronounced and familiar flavour even though I’ve never heard the artist before today. 

‘Rocket Ship’ changes things up in such a nice way, each track thus far has felt unique, a blending of her talents but still different enough to what’s come before. I really enjoyed this track, the melody and the catchy chorus all really just worked for me.

‘Teddy’ is a brief song, and yet you are immediately caught up in the performance, the rich strings match the vocals perfectly and just slowly ease you through another incredible track. 

‘Doc’ I love the guitar in this track, light but energetic, like a hummingbird’s wings, and Nep matches the tempo and vibe perfectly and if it’s possible I fall even further in love with her voice and talent. 

‘Eat It Too’ has an Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s singing ‘Moon River’ quality about it, just timeless and pure and absolutely sensational. Enhanced even further by the piano and subtle big band elements that make it so amazing. It’s for that reason I think this might be my favourite track on the album, although it’s incredibly close as I’ve been continually wowed by Nep’s performances throughout this release.

‘Pup’ opens with delicate strings and deep breathing, before Nep brings out some more jaw-droppingly touching and beautiful vocals. I particularly liked the last half of this track which had some real edge, and intensity and rawness which really worked for the full performance. 

‘Coffee Gives Me Energy’ is a really fun quirky interlude, lots of energy and cacophonous vibrancy, like a video game track and after the more heavy conclusion of the previous track it helps to change the tone slightly. 

‘Fender’ is explosive, and you just get absolutely caught up in the frenzied guitars, but throughout you also get to see yet another side to Nep’s vocal style and as the penultimate track on the album, it absolutely blew me away. 

‘Milk Town / Mr. Carter’ again changes tact, the thrashing guitars replaced by gentle acoustics and a jaunty melody, which pairs incredibly well with the dual vocals from Nep.  It’s an incredibly strong track to close out what has been a refreshing and surprising and amazing album. 

So that’s what I thought of Nep’s album ‘Nep’s Storybook’ which you can check out over on Spotify. While you’re at it make sure and support the artist by following them on Instagram.