The life and Music of Nur Peach
In 2019, when I was 18 years old, I moved to Auckland city to study popular music at Auckland uni. I was fresh out of high school and until then had lived with my parents and brother in Waiomu. Our house was surrounded by bush with big gardens and a stream in the backyard. It was just a short walk down the road to the beach.
The city was very different. I lived in a university hall of residence, in a room that could’ve fit three times into my room at home. The busy streets, traffic and tall buildings of Auckland CBD were the new backdrop to my life. It was one of the scariest things I’ve ever done. But it was also one of the best years of my life.
The people in my year at uni were singer-songwriters, like me. I’d never been around so many musicians my own age, and that was amazing, but I struggled to fit in. I always have, ever since I was a kid. I’ve always been a little different from the rest. It was easier at uni than it had been at school, but I still never quite felt like ‘one of them’. So I started writing songs about it.
The first one came when I was in class, listening to our teacher explain a songwriting assignment. He was talking about syncopation (accenting the offbeats) and how it makes melodies catchy. “It helps to be a little offbeat,” he said. The moment he said the word offbeat, I heard these words in my head: “We’re singing offbeat now, we’re singing offbeat now.” It was the hook for my single ‘Offbeat’, complete with the harmonies you hear in the finished recording! I knew this would be an anthem for people who are different. And it was the first spark of Syncopate, my first album, all of which I wrote within that year.
‘Syncopate’ is a word that, despite being not so well known outside the music community, finds its way into song lyrics enjoyed by the public a fair bit. Perhaps unsurprisingly given the song’s initial inspiration, it found its way into ‘Offbeat’. Walking down the street one day, I was thinking about how much I like the word, and how snappy and catchy it sounds. I decided it would be a great title for an album.
I’ve used syncopation as a metaphor for daring to be different and to make a difference. And people like me, who aren’t like everyone else, I’ve called them ‘syncopators’.
On June 22nd, Syncopate was released to the world. It’s hard to sum up in words what it means to me. I guess you could say it’s a diary of my first year at uni. It’s about taking risks and making big changes in your life, about feeling the fear but doing it anyway. In it, you’ll hear me loving the city and my newfound independence. You’ll hear me missing home and my family.
And of course, you’ll hear about my personal experience of being different. It’s all in there: the loneliness of not fitting in, the struggle to remain true to yourself, and the liberation that comes from self-acceptance. Daring to be different is how we change the world. Because we’re all connected. And we all have it in us to be syncopators.
You can purchase Syncopate on Bandcamp here.
You can follow this journey on Instagram or Facebook.
Words by Nur Peach
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