Nico: Lost in the Land: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6.

Which brings us to Nico’s style, both her vocal and later compositional style. As I’ve suggested, there are elements of Nico’s personality that find expression in her style. There is a reserve and mystery to her music, which one suspects is due partially to her inarticulateness. In writing the list below, I don’t mean to suggest that her music is always the same; there is, in fact, quite a lot of variety in her music. But it is not difficult to find examples of the following:

• Melismatic vocal style. These days, the word "melismatic" is applied rather loosely to describe the singing of several notes for a single syllable of text (its descriptive application to medieval music rather more precisely limits the term to quite long passages of notes for single syllables). Nico’s use of melismas is not particularly ornate; you can hear much more involved melismatic passages in any song by Christina Aguilera. When I first heard Nico’s solo music, the term that came to mind was "tastefully melismatic." She also tends to articulate each note in a melismatic passage by a little force of breath, which gives it a dramatic quality and not a fluid one, as is often the case with other uses of the technique.
   
• The use of the harmonium. Whoever suggested to Nico that she accompany herself on the harmonium (and it may have been her own idea) was a genius. The timbre of the instrument perfectly matches her voice and reinforces the serious and dramatic qualities that are key to her musical effectiveness. In addition, the harmonium provided a useful tool to aid her composition and imposed itself, as it were, on her compositional style by emphasizing drones and repetitive figures, as well as her prominent use of parallel motion in her melodies.
   
• Repetition. Most of Nico’s songs are rather simple in design, relying very heavily on repeated figures on her harmonium. Sections of songs are repeated frequently as well (as is the case with pop music) and most dramatically, she often repeats lines of lyrics. Occasionally, she will repeat the same line as a pair, one pair followed by another, and so on.
   
• She often accompanies her vocal lines on the harmonium in parallel motion at the interval of a perfect fourth or fifth. This is one of the qualities (along with her melismatic style) that lead people to think of her music as sounding "medieval."
   
• Her voice is famous for being deep, but when she reaches into her upper register, the effect is quite piercing and emotional.
   
• Rhythmically, Nico prefers a flowing, adaptable rhythm. Although she could be quite effective in following a precise rhythmic track, a loose, highly soloistic rhythm is what she generally employed.
   
• She tends to have the melody parts on the harmonium in her left hand, while having a simple repetitive figure in her right hand, contrary to normal practice. This reportedly came from a suggestion by Ornette Coleman(!), according to Richard Witts. Wherever it comes from, the lower-register harmonium melody perfectly matches her lower-register voice for a unique effect.

It is these elements that give Nico’s recordings their unique sound. As with all pop albums, however, the role of producer is key. Most of Nico’s albums were produced by John Cale, and he had a profound influence on them. James Young, in his memoir of playing and touring with Nico, sheds light on Cale’s method of producing a Nico album (Richard Witts makes clear that this is a method employed in all of Cale’s work with her). He would record Nico separately, with her harmonium, before other musicians were involved. He would then record other tracks on top of this base, with Nico generally coming back to re-record vocals once the arrangements were in place. This is significant, because it would often mean that Nico’s own style would be obscured (most prominently on The Marble Index) although when this process worked, it worked very well. Cale is, for the most part, a savvy producer with good musical instincts. But any producer finds it difficult to not, well, produce, and it is sometimes best to do as little as possible. In fact, Cale’s role on The Marble Index was as arranger, but he is generally acknowledged as the actual producer.

Next page: Messages are for Western Union