Melbourne-based poet and freestyle virtuoso Nico Lim – Flash Poetry – is turning philosophy into smooth-like-butter rhythm with new single 'Reality, Now’.
The track sets the tone for the Flash Poetry album of the same name, due in late November.
'Reality, Now' is a real and raw exploration of humanity's endless pursuit of pleasure – no matter the cost. It's a smooth, psych-rock and jazz-infused three minutes, which gradually, steadily builds with live instrumentation and a cutting rap that melts over the top.
Intellect meets emotion as Nico breaks down the inhumanity of our obsession with money, and the concept of losing who we are in order to experience the fantasy of living forever. How much of our reality is, in fact, real, and how much is just a filter?
“The story of humanity is a story of lost innocence. From the garden of Eden to agriculture to the dawn of AI, we have been biting the apple and slowly separating ourselves from nature,” Nico says.
“'Reality, Now' offers a picture of the inverted world we now inhabit where money has humiliated everything and we are on the brink of a transformation that will see us become Gods or destroy ourselves, or both.”
scenestr is excited to share the single 'Reality, Now' exclusively, ahead of release. Enjoy.
The mellow guitar lines, floaty keys and simmering percussion draw in the listener almost instantly – Nico's rhymes about modern anxieties countering the music while simultaneously, effortlessly blending with it.
If the album, 'Reality, Now' is a mirror held up to society's contradictions, the title track is the first clear reflection.
“It’s funny, the track begins with a description of my own personal loss of innocence when I went from being an inspired young kid to working full time as a copywriter, 'Salary reality, finally living mindlessly, not really alive but society’s high Fiving me'. . .” Nico recites, “which then got me thinking of the ways we have lost our innocence as a species and how the modern machine and our desire to be all powerful and live forever is driven by a hunger that goes back to biblical times.”
Nico's words move with purpose. He's already displayed his perspectives on modern life's absurdities through a handful of releases leading up to the debut album release, including the track 'Every Ism Is A Wasm'.
For the unacquainted, Nico's path to music began in unexpected silence – when a lung infection left him unable to speak for a month and led to a pause. . . Redirecting his creative voice toward poetry. He released a collection 'The Silent World That Won't Stop Talking', which went on to raise funds for the Fred Hollows Foundation, and set the stage for him to pursue a new kind of artistic expression.
The smooth, downtempo groove of 'Reality, Now' is another example of this – colliding the ancient with the hyper-modern musically, and lacing it with biting lyricism on a culture hungry for success and the 'ideal' life.
Bow down – it's reality, now.
Flash Poetry plays Black Spark Cultural Centre (Melbourne) for the 'Reality, Now' album launch on 13 December.
