You can imagine Lucian Rice’s music soundtracking a newly-discovered Gus Van Sant slacker movie from the 90s, or a forgotten scene from Reality Bites. It’s those lo-fi grunge chords mixed with lo-fi, emotive vocals; building and building until it explodes with distorted euphoria. It’s pure, distilled adolescence (no matter what era) – like losing yourself and finding yourself simultaneously.

New Zealand-born, Rice will release his debut EP, right now, forever, on 7th October, and has recently released the debut single, ninezero. “This is such a Frankenstein song”, Lucian says of the track. “I had this demo called lookalike I made when I was like seventeen, I found it [recently] and was like, ‘Wow this kind of has some bones to it.’ I spent like an hour trying to revamp it but ended up making another song called scream – which ended up being the bridge. I bashed that together with the chords from lookalike and this noise loop I made and got ninezero.”

With the EP release just weeks away, we asked Lucian to put together a playlist of references and recommendations: “The soundtrack to my life. Play it at my funeral.”

Carte Postale by George Pringle
“Something so timeless and of the times – a real rarity. Lyrics are funny that way, an experience can be so specific to someone’s life but we’ve all kind of lived the same day. One of my favourite songs of all time 2bh.”

Stars by The Appleseed Cast
“Yuppppp. No words really, the song’s just all feeling.”

Living in Your Letters by Dashboard Confessional
“One of those songs I wish I wrote. This whole album is pretty perfect to me. No production, just guitar and vocals but everything feels so filled out and believable. Reminds me you don’t need to be doing all that sometimes lol.”

Nickel Wound by Texas Is The Reason
“It’s getting cold all over again. Just one of the best bands of all time.”

Now That You’re Leaving by Stina Nordenstam
“I feel like I’m saying every track is my favourite or the best but Stina really is just both to me. I’m always talking about how perfect her catalogue is and this is my favourite example of why.”

Words Come Back by The Hated
“Such a gutting song. Honestly, the moaning before the chorus is the stuff. Sometimes you don’t need to say it to make the feeling clear.”

Something’s Missing by John Mayer
“Curveball, but that’s a fucking song right there. Room For Squares is the album for me, but this song is so beast. ‘Friends, check. Money, check. Well slept, check.‘ – Just so sick.”

Something That Just Is by Strictly Ballroom
“Song feels like the title 2bh and the riff is so sick. Another perfect band for the books.”

Think And Act by Curve
“This song is such a sick balance between dream pop and shoegaze. It feels like a cloud.”

The Day She Fell To Earth by Buffseeds
“The closing song of all time. End credits rolling and all that. The soundtrack to my life. Play it at my funeral.”

Follow Lucian Rice on Instagram.