Music Review and Interview with Noah Veil – Magnificent

A stylish taste of something different with this track, a really nice combination of distorted emotion and melodic captivation. The lyrics are so very honest and accessible. More importantly though, that chorus kicks in; nothing like you’d expect, a brilliantly strong part of the song as a whole, and from this point onwards it really is one that gets better and better. What’s really powerful about Magnificent is that the instrumentation, the chords and the musical choices behind the vocal, are all very optimistic and joyful sounding. At the same time though, there’s a huge amount of melancholy, a touch of darkness, and alongside all of this – a fantastic hook and central melody. It’s a great track, really unusual, yet striking and memorable – well written to the point that it strikes a chord as you listen and stays with you long afterwards. It has all the intrigue and alternative edge of an underground indie track, yet the musicality and song writing brilliance of any radio worthy pop hit.

It’s not often you come across all of these elements within a single track. It’s edgy, mysterious, expressive, and lyrically free and open – but then it has that huge melodic and magnificent (literally) hook. The lead vocalist sounds great – the gentle expression of those first few lines portrays everything effectively, then the power and strength of it as the chorus line hits. It ticks a lot of boxes, not least of all those that declare a certain standard of freshness with the sound, and a hugely unique level of creativity. The production has really polished off all the otherwise raw edges of this track, it does a great job in brightening up every little note, instrument, and effect. I’ll be checking out more of their music as soon as possible.

By Rebecca Cullen

EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW

Exposed Vocals: So tell us your story. Where did you grow up? What made you decide to become an artist?

Noah Veil: I have no memories before early 2008. I was found as a John Doe in late 2007, either the victim of foul play or an attempted suicide, nobody’s been able to determine which. I had to be resuscitated and was also suffering from septic shock and was hospitalized for over month. I was put into a type of sponsored foster-care with the family of one of the people who found me because the RCMP were unable to determine my identity and no-one seemed to be looking for me, despite running searches through missing person databases internationally. I have since lived with my sponsors in Atlantic Canada and been granted a special dispensation Landed Immigrant status. I’m not specific about my location both for reasons of my foster family’s privacy as well as for potential personal safety issues, since the circumstances that led to me being found are still unknown and no longer being seriously investigated.

My foster family lost a son about a year before finding me who was an aspiring musician; I was given his room to live in, which still had all of his things, including some guitars and musical equipment. I found I had some muscle memory for playing guitar, so I began occupying myself with his guitars and learned to use his equipment, which was unfamiliar to me, as well as his laptop and recording software, which were also unfamiliar to me. He had a very large collection of downloaded mp3s, mostly heavy metal, and had also a lot of bookmarked sites for music he liked. I discovered some journals he had been writing in for years, which he filled with his thoughts and dreams and disappointments, mostly frustration and hurt resulting from religiously-based emotional conflicts combined with social and sexual rejection and frustration. As time went on and I started finding and listening to more and more music that I liked, as well as reading the journals. I began getting song ideas, sort of a soundtrack for the inner conflicts and dialogues of the person whose space I was now occupying, not having any history or childhood or memories of family and life of my own.

Exposed Vocals: How did you come up with that name? What was your inspiration behind it?

Noah Veil: Since I don’t now my actual, given name, I picked one, and that’s what appears on my SIN card and all other official documents. But since it’s important I maintain my privacy, I don’t share that name freely, so I chose the name Noah Veil under which to do my music and perform. I go the idea from one of my deceased foster brother’s journals in which he had written the sentence “All my prayers are to no avail” over and over for about 10 or so pages.

Exposed Vocals: What do you think about online music sharing? Do you ever give your music away for free? Why?

Noah Veil: I don’t know of any other ways of sharing music than online. I live in a region in which the type of music I like isn’t very popular, so the idea of doing things the way I hear musicians used to do it before the internet, by driving around playing everywhere and trying to get the attention of a record company to market your recordings and get your songs played on the radio seems extremely risky and not very efficient. There’s an entire planet connected to the internet, so there needn’t be any circumstantial limitations of geography and access to audiences for one’s music. Mine and Sylvain’s goal is simply to get our music to as many people who enjoy it as possible all over the world, for free; if we can reach enough of those people, there are many different ways to make a living from it that don’t have to involve necessarily selling the recorded songs themselves.

Exposed Vocals: Since everyone was a start-up once, can you give any smaller or local bands or artists looking to get gigs and airplay some tips?

Noah Veil: 1) Write good songs, memorable ones. 2) Play within your limitations, don’t allow your reach to exceed your grasp and be ruthlessly honest with yourself about the boundaries of your capabilities. 3) Make sure your recordings sound good and well-produced. 4) Leave your ego out of it; your only concern should be having the best songs and sound you can, not “who” wrote “what” or whose name comes first, etc. 5) Understand that your success has more to do with how other people perceive you and your music, not how you (and your friends and your family) perceive them; if what you want is an audience and not merely to express yourself for your own satisfaction, you need some empathy and grasp of what people like about you and what you do, but without surrendering your own identity.

Exposed Vocals: Where do you usually gather songwriting inspiration? What is your usual songwriting process?

Noah Veil: As I mentioned, my lyrical ideas come primarily from the journals of my deceased foster brother. As far as music (guitar riffs, melodies, beats, et al), they’ve come to me as the result of a sort of gradual osmosis from music I’ve listened to. I would play along with some songs that I like and, more importantly, within my ability to play, by bands like The Sisters Of Mercy, Iggy Pop, Garbage, the Ramones, and after a point, I started coming up with my own riffs while just kind-of blankly noodling about on the guitar. I’d record riffs I liked and stick them in a file and eventually began developing them into actual songs.

Exposed Vocals: Do you have a band website? What online platforms do you use to share your music?

Noah Veil: We have www.NoahVeil.com, as well as pages on Reverb Nation, Soundcloud, Bandcamp, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter.

Exposed Vocals: If you were given half a million dollars and a year off, what would you do? How would you spend it?

Noah Veil: I think I would develop a really stunning stage show and try to organize an opportunity to perform it live as well as a simulcast, multi-media presentation.

Exposed Vocals: How do you find ways to promote your music? What works best for you?

Noah Veil: We’re only now getting started with that, so we’re just beginning to get an idea of which channels work best for us. We voraciously research any and all opportunities for promotion.

Exposed Vocals: So, what’s next? Any new upcoming projects that you want to talk about?

Noah Veil: We’re just now implementing Phase 1 after having worked on getting it ready for quite some time, so there won’t be any talk of Phase 2 for a while.

Exposed Vocals: If you weren’t making music, what would you be doing?

Noah Veil: I don’t know. Maybe rescuing animals if I could. Or doing a metal radio show, that would be very cool.

Exposed Vocals: How do you juggle the rest of your responsibilities while trying to stay ahead in your music life?

Noah Veil:I don’t have very many responsibilities, nor do I worry about “staying ahead” very much; we plan, we execute, we put it out there, we accept the results. We aren’t competitive in any real sense. We’re happy with who we are.

Exposed Vocals: What should fans look forward to in 2016?

Noah Veil: Hopefully, we’ll eventually be everywhere you look, to the point at which people will have to say “Alright, I’ve seen this photo on every site for months, I might as well click on it”, as well as “Ugh, why do they have to play that bloody song everywhere I go?”