NYC Scene Report – Nick Vivid, The Davenports, & Linda Draper

This week’s NYC Scene Report features Nick Vivid wanting to reign again, The Davenports getting people talking, and Linda Draper with a harsh realization.

* Nick Vivid’s just released album, No More Secrets, is easily one of my favorite albums of the year. It features a heaping dose of soul, with a sprinkle of indie rock, and funk, which is a killer combination. You can hear all of the above on the song, “I Wanna Reign Again.”

“I Wanna Reign Again” is a post-pandemic anthem dedicated to the desire to be back out in the world. “It's a song about just wanting to feel alive,” Vivid said in a statement.

With a distinct Sly and the Family Stone influence, “I Wanna Reign Again” will get you into a groove you won’t want to leave anytime soon.

* When I read about the inspiration for The Davenports’ latest single, “We’re Talking About You,” it was so perfect I nearly laughed out loud.

Scott Klass, who is the man behind The Davenports moniker, said, “I was having a conversation with a friend who pointed out that I was worrying and complaining unnecessarily about something, to which I countered, ‘come on, you do the same thing all the time,’ to which they countered, ‘we’re not talking about me right now, we’re talking about you.’”

Immediately, a song was born, and it’s a heck of a tune. Check out the video, and hear it for yourself.

* Like many of us, country singer-songwriter Linda Draper rolled her eyes at some of the messaging at the beginning of the pandemic. That eye rolling led to a harsh realization, and all of it is in her song “Tether.”

“I wrote this song during lockdown at the beginning of the pandemic,” Draper said in a statement. “I was amazed and disgusted with how, literally overnight, every TV commercial, news outlet, and talk show was suddenly barraging us with these insincere, and overly sentimental, messages about how we are all in this together.”

Draper continued, “If there is anything that maybe everyone can all agree on these days, it is that we are NOT all in this together. We have never been more divided, and distrustful. Those cozy little bubbles that we got ourselves stuck in just keep on popping. Now it’s time to face the music.”

“Tether” is off Draper’s upcoming album, Patience and Lipstick, which is due out January 21st via South Forty Records, and you can check out the song right here.

For more of the best of NYC’s indie music scene, come back next Wednesday, and check out the archives for previous columns.