We’ve been taking several listens to Danni Nicholls latest single, Little Fictions, here at the Send Me Your Ears studio and boy, do we have a treat for you?!
Little Fictions is a positively anthemic and euphoric Americana/ country/folk track that just oozes class. We love it. Reading Danni’s biography, we weren’t at all surprised to learn that her music has been nominated for the Album, Artist and Song of the Year categories at the Americana MusicAssociation UK awards in 2017, 2018 and 2020. If Little Fictions is anything to go by, then Danni Nicholls’ career is most certainly on a very positive trajectory.
Little Fictions starts gently with a beautiful stereo strings section. The cello here is just glorious. As the vocals start, piano and strummed guitar are added too. At this point we were utterly bowled over by Danni’s voice. A beautiful, passionate, breathy voice with sublime power and control. Throughout the song there were many moments that we looked around at each other and found that we were all nodding and smiling!
The thing that impressed us about this track more than anything is the fact that it just keeps developing. Instruments are added in such subtle ways that after 2 minutes you realise that the song is still building. It’s at this point that the drums are added as well and you wonder how much more the song is going to keep developing. We’re feeling totally elated by this point.
Not one, but two key changes later, we realise that we are listening to an artist who has absolutely no doubt how to retain her listeners interest right to the very last note. The key changes build so much tension and excitement in the song and we are so impressed with this artist’s ability to utterly nail how to engage her audience.
Lyrically, Danni has an important and empowering message about handling self doubt.
Little Fictions is a tale of persistent, nagging feelings of doubt. It is an acknowledgement of the anxiety inducing voices in our heads which try to take us down. It is a testament to the “Little Fictions” of self sabotage that we tell ourselves that stand in our way. Danni Nicholls urges the listener to trust themselves and move forward. As if we didn’t already love her music, Danni’s lyrical message is just as engaging as her melodies.
With tour dates coming up across the UK, Nicholls is very clearly working hard at getting her name out there and rightly so. She deserves to be heard.
Tour dates;
28/04/22 The Greystones, Sheffield
29/04/22 The Met, Bury
30/04/22 Sage 2, Gateshead
01/05/22 Town Hall, Kirton in Lindsey
04/05/22 Music Room Liverpool Philharmonic, Liverpool
06/05/22 Norden Farm Arts Centre, Maidenhead
14/05/22 The Stables, Milton Keynes
20/05/22 Chapel Arts, Bath
22/05/22 Acapela Studio, Cardiff
26/05/22 Henry Tudor House, Shrewsbury
27/05/22 229 The Venue, London
28/05/22 Little Rabbit Barn, Colchester
Little Fictions is a well executed track that truly delivers. From our own perspective on production, we’d suggest a small boost around 100-150Hz to add a little more warmth and punch in that area and a boost of the high mids centred around 4kHz to give a little extra definition in that area.
Danni Nicholls has produced a stunning Americana track in Little Fictions that will enthrall the listener from start to finish. Her passionate and heartfelt lyrics together with some superb scoring and instrumentation make Little Fictions a song that will stay in your head and your heart forever.