Community Picks is a weekly series where artists submit a release to be voted on by members of the Nina community. Once a week, the release with the most votes will receive editorial coverage. This week’s winner is the song “violet” by rainger. “violet” is a nice and twangy lo-fi indie tune that wears its Carhartt on its sleeve. We sent over some questions to Tanner Ward of rainger—read the interview and listen to “violet” below.

Where are you from?

rainger: I am from and currently live in Florida.

How would you describe your music to someone who has never heard it.

I definitely have certain major influences and genres I pull from, like a lot of alternative and country/folk stuff. But ultimately I just try to be honest in my writing and make the music that I want to hear. I try not to force anything and just let the process come as naturally as possible, which usually gives me the best result. It’s something I’m still working on but I’ve definitely gotten better at it.

Tell us about your release on Nina.

“violet” is a song that was written and recorded a year or so ago, and was the first song I wrote for this project. It ended up coming together fairly quickly and in a more stripped back and minimal form. The process felt super intuitive and natural, almost like I’d had that song in me for a while and it finally found a way out. It only seemed right for it to be the first release.

What kind of tools do you use to make music?

I use an SM57 as my main mic, and my favorite guitar to use is this old 60s Norma electric guitar which has a lot of character to it. It has a really plucky and warm tone that makes it sound kind’ve muted which I love. I also typically record with tape and recorded this song directly onto a Tascam 424 MKII. I really love the process of using analog gear along with the sound that it gives you.

Who are three to five independent artists you think people should check out? 

Definitely a huge shoutout to my friend Sin Falta, who actually showed me Nina and told me I should upload my music here. The stuff he’s been putting out lately is top notch. We have a band called lovehaunt that we are both in so we make music together frequently and will have an EP out for that very soon. Also have to mention my friend Oldstar who was one of the first people I showed this song to and the previous owner of the guitar I wrote it on.  Really great artist who’s making some fantastic alt-country music right now.  People should also check out Daydrinker, a musician and friend who’s set to release some really cool stuff.