A Quick Chat With Nighteyes

Nighteyes, the solo project of New Zealand-born artist Rachel Trainor, has released her haunting single 'Plenty’, offering a glimpse into her debut album 'The Way Back Down', releasing November 10. Nighteyes seamlessly merges electronica with doom-inspired guitars and vocals, crafting emotional sonic landscapes. With a diverse background in music, circus, and cabaret acts, Trainor's captivating performances have graced international stages. Notably, her tracks featured prominently in the acclaimed circus production 'The Defiant'. 'Plenty' confronts human-driven climate change and societal progress with an evocative, sinister composition—a maudlin ode to our Mother Earth. We caught up with Rachel to find out more about the track, her influences and more.

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Can you tell us what this track means to you and what you want people to take away from it?

Plenty is a really special track to me, as it’s thematically almost a prequel to my previously released single ‘In The Wake’. The central theme of the song is human driven climate-change and inaction, I care deeply about the natural world, so when I wrote this song I wanted to convey my appreciation for all the planet does for us, along with a sense of mourning for what we have already lost. I’ve been hearing about this issue my entire life, and yet there seems to have been little done about it, so this song culminates in an imagined idea of what the world will be like in the future if we don’t take action. The idea of ‘Plenty’, that there will always be enough resources for everyone, seems to permeate our culture and I think this makes it very hard for people to realise that we have a big problem. I think it’s the biggest issue my generation has had to face, so I hope that when people listen to this song they can think about that.

Who are some of your influences and why?

I take inspiration from a lot of different artists and art mediums, however my main influences would be Chelsea Wolfe, Emma Ruth Rundle, and Darkher. I gravitate towards dark, mysterious and deep music written by women, so those three artists are absolute powerhouses in that category. I’ve also been heavily inspired by the post-rock band Giants album ‘Old Stories’ for this particular track, I just adore the guitar parts on that album, and I think that’s come out in the guitar in Plenty. John Frusciante’s solo album ‘The Empyrean’, Radiohead’s ‘Videotape’ and ‘Talk Show Host’, feature pretty heavily on my listening rotation, and Russian Circles are also a big favourite of mine. I’m a big fan of darkness in music, traversing deep waters, musically or lyrically and I think that comes out in my writing.

What's the creative process for you, from writing through to recording?

I don’t really have a particular process for writing, sometimes I’ll get an idea in the middle of the night or in the shower, or I’ll be playing around on my guitar and then something comes out. Some songs get written in half an hour, some songs take years to finish. I have many lyric ideas in my notes app, and riff ideas in my voice memos, which I’m sure many other artists do. It’s really just about getting the idea down as soon as you have it, otherwise it’s gone. This is my first record as a solo artist so I’ve been learning my process as I go. At the time of starting to get the songs down I didn’t have a band to jam with, so I had to demo everything myself and work out each part, which felt both daunting and exciting. I have access to a home studio, which is both a blessing and a curse as it means you can record whenever you want, but then the time/money pressure isn’t really there so it can be a tricky balance. As I grow as an artist, my process is becoming clearer which is nice.

What do you think makes a great song?

Great question! I think there’s lots of different ways to have a great song, which of course is an objective thing depending on who’s listening to it. I have a lot of different taste, as a musician who plays multiple instruments, so I might really love a track because it’s fun to play on drums and has a great groove, but the lyrics might not be great. Or the other way around. I think songs that really make you feel something are the great ones, whether it’s the urge to dance, to cry, to laugh. Those are always the best for me.

If you could collaborate with any artist, who would it be and why?

I would love to collaborate with a really heavy post-metal or metal band like Russian Circles, I think taking the heavy parts of my music to the next level with a band like that would be really incredible. Mastodon would be amazing too, as they’re one of my absolute favourites. It would be wonderful to write with icons like Stevie Nicks or Joni Mitchell, but I would probably be too starstruck to come up with anything! I got to collaborate with one of my best friends, Laurie Black, on a track from her new album Angst Music and that was really, really fun so I hope more collabs come up soon.

When not working on music, what other creative outlet/s do you have?

Just recently I rediscovered knitting, my Mum taught me how to do it when I was a child. Every few years I pick it up again and make a really bad scarf, but this time I actually finished an amazing cardigan which I’m proud of. I’m also jumping on the crotchet band wagon, which is fun. For a long time I didn’t really have any other creative pursuits so it’s nice (and necessary!) to have something outside of music. 

Who are some local bands we should check out?

One of my favourite Melbourne bands is Spawn, an all-female psychedelic band, they’re incredible musicians and really wonderful people. Maggie Rachel Lockhart is an incredible performer and songwriter. Oceanlord are an amazing stoner/doom band, and I suppose I could give my other band, Honeybone (psych/garage) a plug!

Winter or summer and why?

The goth in me is tempted to say winter, but I’m actually a fan of all the seasons. I particularly love the change in the air in Spring and Autumn. I was born in summer, and in the Southern Hemisphere there’s so many holidays that happen in summer, but winter has a quiet beauty to it that I really love. Growing up in Central Otago, New Zealand was amazing because we got these beautiful cold winters, then amazing hot summers as well. My preference generally changes when we’re heading into the next season. I’m looking forward to the warmer months this year!

What else do you have planned for 2023?

Plenty is a single off my debut album, The Way Back Down, which will be out November 10th. I’m so excited for this, and we’re having a launch party at Whole Lotta Love in Brunswick, with Oceanlord and Maggie Rachel Lockhart as supports. So I’m working away at things for that, rehearsing with my band, doing promo etc. And then after that I’m going to finally have some headspace to write some new material which will be so good, as this album has taken up so much of my time this year. I’m really looking forward to all of it!