The Buckle & Boots Festival always unearths a few gems each year and one we've always maintained contact with is Nia Nicholls and she continues to delight us with output every so often and her latest is "Attached", a curious little number in that aside from Nia's vocals there is just her guitar and a piano for company
Nia's output is often to be found perusing the affairs of the heart and the almost Verve like opening acoustic guitar finds Nia trying to convince herself that she may not have fallen for someone.
"We might have talked until the sun rose
In an embrace so close
We might have talked about our past
Don't get me wrong I'm not attached"
It is something of a forlorn hope though, as the rest of the song is Nia gradually realising that perhaps she is wrong.
By the second verse there is also piano, as it becomes ever more obvious that things might not be as Nia suggests, for when friends seek to badmouth him she's still holding onto the belief that it doesn't matter
"They say you won't remember me - I'm just casual company
I'm just one out of your stash but that's ok I'm not attached" she sings in a somewhat dismissive tone.
Things reach something of a climax so to speak in the final section, the whole atmosphere musically builds and Nia's delivery becomes somewhat more intense
"Like the Do Not Disturb sign on your hotel door
Like your open suitcase on your bedroom floor
Like you favourite necklace hanging from your neck"
before moving to a more wistful delivery for the somewhat stark recall
"Like me lying on your chest"
The final protestations of "I'm not saying I'm attached" end with the awakening "But you know I got attached!"
This is actually something of a tragedy as earlier we found out that the object of her affections had to "step on that plane" and that Nia's feelings may have been misplaced. It's all a nice little twist on convention that wraps itself up neatly if sadly by coming full circle, and as ever there is a lot of thought and inventiveness in Nia's delivery to keep the listener occupied over repeated listens.
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