Niamh Steps Into the Spotlight with Debut Single’ The Golden Ratio’
- Undrtone Blog
- Aug 6
- 3 min read
Niamh’s debut single, ‘The Golden Ratio,’ feels like a long-awaited arrival. Download/stream it here: https://bfan.link/the-golden-ratio.
With shows on Reprezent and Rinse FM, DJ sets at Boiler Room, Parklife and The Warehouse Project, and support from BBC Radio 1 and Introducing already behind her, the Manchester-based talent has been steadily building to this moment.
‘The Golden Ratio’ is more than just a track. It’s a self-portrait.
“I’ve just gone with the flow from beginning to end,” she tells us. “I follow what I love, do what I love, and say yes to every opportunity. When I started getting more of these opportunities, there was a bit of a ‘maybe this really is for me’ moment.”
The track channels that belief into something fierce and full-bodied. There’s no shyness in it. A driving, break(sy) techno beat anchors a tangle of distorted, dreamy percussion. You can hear processed strings echoing her classical roots. Synths swell and swoop like submerged sirens. The whole thing feels submerged, submerged but alive.
“It’s exactly what I’d wanna hear at the end of the night and hug my mates to,” Niamh says. “The track embodies what to expect from the Niamh sound. It pays homage to my years of classical training (specifically violin) through the inclusion of the processed strings for the lead melody, contrasted with a no-holds-barred, ‘hello I’m here’ in your face approach with the bass heavy kicks.”
That tension between light and dark, soft and sharp, runs through her work.
“I feel like I exist in all sorts of contrasts,” she says. “It would feel bizarre to not reflect that reality in my music, because my music is absolutely a reflection of my inner monologue and existence.”
Her DJ sets are known for fluid, expansive journeys through techno, trance, breakbeat and electro. But production gives her the space to lean even deeper into that instinctive, internal world.
“The track came together super naturally,” she says. “Through a few sessions, just testing different sounds and intuitively tying everything together. It’s the first track I made that really felt ‘me’, so it felt the most natural to lead with it.”
The title wasn’t an accident either.
“Even the name feels deeply personal,” she says. “Its literal meaning equates to a divine, natural proportion, and I wrote the track wearing a necklace I bought that day from a collection called ‘The Golden Ratio’, from a jeweller’s where my family are from in the North East.”
It’s those kinds of moments that feed into her creativity.
“Influence arises at any given moment, and I absolutely adore that possibility,” she explains. “My parents. Rock music, pop music, indie music, classical music. Electronic artists I admire so highly – Helena Hauff, Jeff Mills, HAAi, Nina Kraviz, Avalon Emerson, to name merely a few. Video games. Sounds and experiences in everyday life. Colours I love, life moments I experience.”
As a DJ, she knows how to hold a room. Her approach is rooted in confidence and deep knowledge.
“Know my music, know it well, and trust in my ability to read the room,” she says. “When you’re DJing, you can never predict, and you have to be ready to navigate that unpredictability.”
And after playing alongside names like Kettama, Mall Grab and Mella Dee, she’s always learning.
“Even just watching them perform teaches you so much. How they interact with a crowd, how they pace their sets, how they stay present. You take that in and find your own way to translate it.”
With ‘The Golden Ratio’, Niamh doesn’t just introduce her sound. She draws a line in the sand.
It’s a track that rattles the club and lingers in the chest. Introspective, but loud. Personal, but ready for the dancefloor. Much like Niamh herself.
Niamh
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