Noelle [Deluxe], Nep, Vinyl

Black Vinyl. The story of Nep begins in Daytona, Florida, a place of endless motorcycle rallies, sticky summers, and the kind of small-town culture she always knew she'd leave behind. Growing up surrounded by Bike Week and Biketoberfest, she felt both shaped and alienated by the noise of her hometown. "Beaches are fucked, Daytona sucks," she sings on Biketoberfest, mocking and mourning the place that raised her. It's that push and pull, the desire to escape and the need to memorialize, that fuels her debut album, Noelle. Written during her senior year at the University of Miami's Frost School of Music, Nep crafted the record with her best friend and collaborator Jake Sonderman. Between classes, late-night studio sessions, and college parties that often bled into the lyrics themselves, the pair built an album that feels both diaristic and cinematic: raw experience refracted through sharp, infectious indie-pop.