San Diego’s Nicky Venus won us over with his “mid-80’s Depeche Mode meets 70’s David Bowie” track, “Bodily Love” in early September. Now, the electropop god is ready to unleash his debut EP, Little Runner – a glorious mix of electronic and synthpop with a theme of suffering for love. Sounds pretty familiar, if I do say so myself. Conceived on the road, Little Runner is a snapshot into what it means to be on the run from everything that tears you apart in the name of love.
Nicky has provided us with an exclusive commentary into some of the tracks along with a first look at the new video for “Legacy.” Join the Venus party below!
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Little Runner is 6 songs that explore the idea of love. I went out to southeast Asia for a few months and traveled around. I packed light and moved around a lot. I just came out of a relationship and had to get away. Travel feeds my soul like nothing else and inspiration finds me best in new places. The neon lights, foreign tongues and bullet trains definitely influenced the sound and feel of this record. With my laptop, headphones and a simple microphone I recorded as much music as I could. I came back and went into the studio with my friend and producer Brian Karscig of the band Louis XIV to work on a few tracks. Then I linked up with another good friend and producer Daniel Crawford and recorded/mixed the rest properly.
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“Little Runner” – This is my favorite track off the EP. This was the first song to come together and was the easiest. “Little Runner” is about the one that got away and this song is about the moment I let her go.
“Bodily Love” – This song had a unique beginning. I accidentally booked an AirBnB in the red light district of Manila for a couple days. The room was in a high-rise building and was cheap and clean. Across the street was a bar called the Blackcat, I think. It turns out it was a brothel. Although I didn’t partake I did take a break from writing and stopped in a few times for a beer and game of pool with the women who worked there. They were incredible pool players.
“Heaven Knows” – This one is about a girl who I knew a while ago. She had green eyes, was young and full of hope. It was short lived because I disappeared on her for my own reasons. Although I never made her any promises disappearing isn’t really my style. She was a good girl and she’ll probably never know this song was inspired by her.
