Community Picks is a weekly series where artists submit a release to be voted on by members of the Nina community. Once a week, the release with the most votes will receive editorial coverage. This week’s winner is the album Country Music by the Wales-born, Berlin-based artist Severin Black, an experimental music record written by the artist during a moment of transition, both geographically and artistically. We sent over some questions to Severin Black, read the interview and listen to the Country Music below.

Where are you from?

Severin Black: I was born in Aberystwyth, Wales before moving to south London at an early age, staying there until relocating to Berlin two years ago.

How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it?

Music for traveling alone.

Tell us about your release on Nina.

I wrote Country Music in the midst of a transition between countries, but also a transition between older “rougher” recording techniques and more composed pieces. That journey is still ongoing, although I can feel myself getting back into the more immediate playful side of things. It basically defines a turning point from making quite anxious music under the Nape moniker in London to spending time in the French Pyrenees where my close friend who masters all my music (Owen Pratt) lives, and having a spiritual shift which found its way into what I wanted to make. I think this was connected to my early childhood in rural Wales. Country music is a funny genre name given any music is in some way of a country, and at the same time no music is really defined to geographical borders anymore.

What kind of tools do you use to make music?

It has changed over the years but is usually centred around hardware that I can improvise with—drum machines, microphone feedback, vibrating drum membranes, guitar pedals, salvaged organ pipes. These days I enjoy using 90s synths which are trying to emulate orchestral instruments, with all the failures and artefacts that brings with it. They also have a connection to ‘00s UK grime instrumentals which left a big imprint on my childhood (big up Channel U). Since moving to Berlin I've been playing a lot of clarinet, and this has predominantly been the center of my live practice. Sometimes it's nice to just play the clarinet live and let people sit with the silence in between the notes. Day to day I don't think a lot of people give themselves that space.

Who are five independent artists you think people should check out?

Zeynep Ağcabay is one of the hardest working and most honest people I know. She's Turkish-born based in London, and her music is a beautiful representation of those layered identities and experiences. Also a must cop: Polido, DJ Gonz, Silzedrek, and my good friend and connoisseur of noise Chantal Michelle.