Niki Colet’s newest project came from an ego death. Born in the Philippines’ capital Manila, her early releases drew on respected songwriters like Leonard Cohen and Joni Mitchell and saw her receive airtime on national Filipino radio, as well as bookings across the country. However, as an independent Filipino singer-songwriter, she struggled to find a blueprint to follow and, following the release of her 2019 EP Endless Summer, she took a step back from music.
Speaking just days before her new EP We Only Ever Meet in Strange Dreams releases, Colet explains how she moved to London to pursue a Masters degree at Central Saint Martins and was fully prepared to leave her previous life behind. But music quickly began to worm its way into her life once more, with Colet slowly finding a way to enjoy music as a listener and not an artist. In the meantime, catching gasps of air between studying and working, she started a mailing list called Voice Notes, sharing private song recordings and poetry readings.
It was ultimately a chance encounter in the Finsbury Park coffee shop where Colet worked that got her back in the recording booth. Producer Alex Haines would stop by for an oat milk cortado on his way to the studio each day, speaking of ongoing projects with his studio partner Dan Rothman from London Grammar and, after months of casual conversation, Colet suggested that they work together. She explained all of the influences she’d absorbed over the last five years and the two booked in a session together to see if it would work, ostensibly aiming to make what Haines described as a “delicate acoustic track”.
In the studio, Colet stumbled on an unfinished chorus she’d written back in Manila and, as she sang it, Haines instantly set into motion. He grabbed his bass, then his synth and then the drum machine, drawing on his genre-blending backgrounds in jazz, rock and pop. Meanwhile, reeling from a raw and recent breakup, Niki suddenly found the inspiration to finish off the rest of the lyrics. Before they knew it, they’d made “Getaway Car”, a dark and expansive alt pop track that definitely wasn’t the humble acoustic joint they’d had in mind. Walking back in the blistering January cold later that evening, it seemed like there was only one option left for them: they had to make a record.
The resultant project is, both physically and sonically, a far cry from her earlier releases, a grassroots effort drawing on the rich creative community she’s since discovered in London. From the intimate and fragile “Getaway Car” and “Devil on my Shoulder” to the anthemic guitar and chorus on “Ghosts”, to the motion-filled plodding kicks of lead single “Strange Dreams”, We Only Ever Meet in Strange Dreams is a impressive display of Colet’s versatility and emotional range. Or, what she describes as a “record that you could both cry and dance to.”
Below, we speak to Niki Colet to pick apart the unique story that led up to the release of her project We Only Ever Meet in Strange Dreams.
While your earlier releases are more understated and intimate, this project leans into a slightly ‘poppier’ style. What influenced this trajectory?
Niki Colet: Back in 2017, I was in the middle of putting together a record myself, and already feeling so detached and disillusioned from my own project. I think at the time I was just growing up and growing out of the kind of music I was so used to making, but I couldn’t see it that way. I felt bound by the limitations of my capabilities. In a literal way, I was bound by my instruments: I only know how to play the guitar, and only owned an acoustic guitar at the time, so the music I was making felt structured around that. I knew I needed to challenge myself in order to be able to make the kind of music that I felt was more like me, but I didn’t know how.
I found myself drawn to the concept of stitching euphoria into sadness, and how you could make triumphant pop music out of experiences that were heavy or profound. Fast forward to this project – I think the five years I had spent since my last release had led to an accumulation of new inspirations that had been slow-cooking in me over a long period of time.
How did your experiences of growing up in the Philippines shape your approach to music?
Niki Colet: The pop culture landscape in the Philippines is interesting. Our culture feels both new and ancient at the same time, because of our colonial history. It’s a melting pot of so many different influences. We were a collection of different island tribes before being colonised by Spain for three hundred years, and then by America for the first half of the 20th century. And even before being colonised by the West, we were heavily influenced by the cultures that surrounded us geographically, from China to India.
Ultimately, all these different factors have affected me, and as a result, my work. Filipino media feels very blockbuster – we have our beauty pageants and soap operas, and ‘show business entertainment’ is huge (similar to a lot of other Latin-influenced cultures). I think the earnestness of all of that has influenced my work. I love that I come from a culture of big feelings and grand gestures, and that comes out in my music. There’s a spirit of indulging fully in an emotion that I think comes through in the way I write songs, and even in the way I sing.
The project is like the sound of a heart breaking open, there’s a lot of grit, but there’s also a levity – Niki Colet
How did being in London influence this project?
Niki Colet: I just can’t believe how everything lined up. Like, even just meeting Alex. Not to be cheesy about it but it was almost like, when I made this decision to make music again, the universe gave me everything I needed. Later, I went to a music festival, and I met these guys who were working in film, and they were like, ‘Oh yeah, we do the music videos for like, Fred again.., Beabadoobee, Mura Masa’ and they also mentioned they helped up and coming artists. I was like, ‘Well, I’m also a musician. I’ll send you my music. Maybe we should have a chat.’ We set up a meeting for the following week. I didn’t think it would go anywhere, but they just wanted to take on this project because they believed in it.
Phoenix Yemi, who supported me at the EP launch, I know through Reference Point [bookshop in central London], because I’ve been going to their poetry nights ever since I moved here. Even with my gig that’s coming up at Next Door Records, it’s down the street from my house. I just walked in and was like, ‘Hey, are you guys available for me to book a show for my EP launch?’ Living in London, it feels almost inevitable to meet people and make things happen.
Looking back at the album as a whole, what are your feelings about it?
Niki Colet: It feels like a really visceral snapshot of my life at a particular moment in time for so many reasons. All of it came from such a deeply intuitive and emotional place that I wasn’t really thinking about what genre I wanted it to fit into. I think spending five years not releasing anything officially allowed me to kind of experience things as a fan first and foremost, before being an artist, and I think that’s made my creative palette so much richer for it. The project is like the sound of a heart breaking open, there’s a lot of grit in the production that was intentional, but there’s also a levity that we tried to capture. Looking back, I’ve realised that a lot of my lyrics are questions, and I think that’s because I made this EP at a time where everything felt uncertain and I felt like I had no answers. One of the things that I said to Alex when we first met was that I wanted to make an epic alt-pop record that you could both cry and dance to.
We Only Ever Speak in Strange Dreams is out now.
