CoolJunkie Interviews Noah

May 19, 2009 6:48 PM
by Marcos Colón

When you boil it down, there are typically two types of music artists when it comes to their upbringing. You have the ones that picked up an instrument at a young age and slowly began to find themselves, forming a band, finding success…yada, yada, yada. Then you have the unique types that combine the cultural experiences of their upbringing along with traveling and viewing different worlds of music, thus creating a unique hybrid of an artist. Ok, so maybe there are more than two types of music artists, but that second explanation definitely rings a bell when Noah comes into the picture.

Growing up around Dubai, but later moving over to Canada, Noah was brought up by the sounds of Europe’s music scene, only to be later exposed to the North American circuit of music. Along the way he developed his music skills, found his writing niche, and put together one of the most eclectic electronic pop albums we’ve heard.

CoolJunkie recently got the chance to chat with Noah about his debut album, his musical influences, and the impact that electronic ideas have on music today.

CoolJunkie: How have things been for you as of late?

Noah: Things have been pretty good. This is my first time in New York as an adult. I’m having a great time.

CJ: Where were you before?

Noah: Well I still live in Ottawa, Canada. But I’m just here to do some stuff, but I’ll be back there in June to do more.

CJ: Can you talk a little bit about your album Human Geometry. There’s a lot going on there. At times you get a salt and peppering of electro, but then you also get the same kind of melody you’d hear in a Daft Punk album.

Noah: The way we approached the record was kind of weird. We really didn’t know that we were actually approaching a record. My background in music is not electronic, it’s not computers, and it’s not technology at all, as far as how I learned music. I’ve been taking piano lessons since I was six, and I’ve been taking voice lessons as well. I’m pretty traditional in the way that I write and the way that I perform. For a while I didn’t really know that I was going to be a writer because I didn’t have a feel for it. I just wanted to sing, I just wanted to perform. But I always knew what kind of music I liked. I listened to Michael, Madonna, Prince, so I always knew there would be a dance element to it, and a pop element. A couple of years ago I moved to Montreal and it was the first time I lived by myself, and that’s when I found out that I could actually write. I realized that I could put these things together and began to write. I continued to write with the piano and with singing so I didn’t really approach it as a dance album. The great thing about it is that if the sound system doesn’t work, the computers don’t work, I can still do the songs with a piano or with a guitar.

CJ: If you would have to say there was an overall encompassing theme to the album, what would you say it is?

Noah: The theme was sort of revealed to me on its own. The theme is that everything that you experience throughout your life affects you in some subconscious level and it makes you who you are. But then there’s a point in your life when you realize that you can actually take control and you can use what you have learned or what you haven’t learned throughout the course of your life. Human Geometry is the realization that you have the power to do that.

CJ: Is that how the name for the album came about?

Noah: Sort of. The name for the album came about when I was making tea before a recording session and burned my hand and it was in the shape of a circle. And I said, “Wait a second, human geometry. It makes perfect sense.”

CJ: How would you describe your sound to someone who’s never heard your music before?

Noah: It’s smart dance music, so you can dance and you can think at the same time. You don’t necessarily have one without the other. The balance between thinking and dancing is what I’m trying to do.

CJ: What are some of your musical influences?

Noah: Definitely Daft Punk. I think that Daft Punk is surprisingly able to reach out to quite a large audience and created somewhat of a niche sound. It’s a French electronic sound, but you don’t necessarily have everyone getting it. I spent my first ten years in and around Dubai and Abudabe before I came to Canada, and the music that I heard there was all European music. I didn’t realize what it was until I stepped away to North America. Bjork, Daft Punk, Michael and Madonna, and a lot of soundtracks are what I listen to.

CJ: What inspires you to make music?

Noah: This is such a cliché answer, but everything inspires me to make music. I see other people working and the drive that they have and the passion, not even in an artistic way, and it inspires me. I can’t imagine not making music.

CJ: What are your thoughts about electronic music and the impact that it has on music today?

Noah: It’s a weird thing. I feel like a lot of musicians today make a conscience decision to either embrace it or completely shun it. I think that there’s a lot of music out there like pop music or not even pop, that are using electronic ideas in a very good way. But there are also some that are using it in a very fallback way. We’re also in a new age where the music industry is turning on its head, and every twenty years we’re changing things up. It’s all very exciting.

CJ: What can we expect from you for the remainder of the year?

Noah: We’re doing Arjan Nights on June 10th, and he’s a blogger that I’ve been following for a very long time, so it was weird when he asked me to do his show. I’m going to do some shows in Montreal and Toronto and maybe even head over to Europe for more.

Click here to hear more from Noah.