“Miami-based producer Big Steve Gee’s latest offering, “Nikki,” off his forthcoming EP Monogamy, is a hypnotic deep-house track that’s laidback, but laced with an infectious mix of late-night warehouse stabs, twinkling piano riffs, and fuzzy bass.
From beginning to end, the track takes listeners on a journey with the titular character, Nikki, who “skips down the streets at sunset only to watch it settle beneath the horizon,” as Gee himself describes it.
It’s a tune that inspires curiosity: like Nikki herself, the song is peripatetic, going down different paths and grooves. Just as she begins to get lost in the circular rhythms of synth jabs and treble-heavy keys, the bass starts throbbing through again, constant, and slightly threatening.
A bit more stripped-down than a lot of what’s coming out under the genre label of house lately, the track’s a welcome departure – in more ways than one.
For us, it clearly evokes a girl lost in thought walking through a foggy metropolis. Nothing but neon and halogen splashes pierce the mist. The bass, like a downtuned car horn wakes her from her reverie, only to realize she’s back where she began. And that’s okay:”