Sam Nicolosi – Origins

By starrymag | November 14, 2016

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

Q) How would you describe your sound?

 

A) Colorful, ethereal, poetic pop. New world music – genres are dead.

 

Q) Who are some of your musical influences?

 

A) Everything is an influence. Everything, every day, everywhere. I truly love so much music. Some defining stuff for me has to be Kanye West, Paul McCartney, Bon Iver, Frank Ocean, Moses Sumney, Florence + The Machine, Chance The Rapper, Alt-J…. There’s so many more though.

 

Q) How do you write your songs? Do you need music before you can create lyrics?

 

A) I always have melodies bouncing around in my head so I pull them down and see what lyrics come out naturally on the first improv singing the melody. I basically just sing and record and see what happens. It can happen a trillion and a half different ways though.

 

Q) Where does your LP Origins get its name?

 

A) I had this insane burst of new energy – I felt like I was fourteen years old again when the first ideas for Origins  Nostalgia heavily influences my creative process.

 

Q) Talk about the story behind your song “Realign.”

 

A) We are often twisted by others’ ideologies and perspectives. “Realign”was created in a moment of celebration – I was really listening to myself and trusting myself like I never have before. I was so happy to finally fully trust all of my own ideas. Overall, I was in a high place.

 

Q) What do you think it is about the song that fans will connect to?

 

A) Sometimes we get a little sick of hearing songs about love/sex/money. I tend to write more about human-nature, perspective, singular moments, fictional stories, etc. I hope people find that refreshing.

 

Q) Will you be releasing a music video for “Realign?”

 

A) Probably not, but there is a music video for a different song coming.

 

Q) How much of a hand do you have in the production of your music?

 

A) Most of my stuff is 100% me – meaning it starts in my room and it ends in my room and no one else touches it. “Realign”is an exception though. I wrote it with my incredibly talented friend, Evalyn. She just did Fire with Louis The Child – she’s killer. Then, Chris Lake was like “man, this needs a straight kick” and helped me out with some drums in post-production.

 

Q) What can fans expect from a live Sam Nicolosi performance?

 

A) I used to do all my shows acoustic and we’re in the middle of creating the new live experience now. I’ve been playing acoustic guitar since I was twelve years old, so I’ll just be doing acoustic shows ’till 2017.

 

Q) What songs off Origins are you most looking forward to performing live?

 

A) “Madman” will be really fun. There’s some crazy hard auto-tuned bits and this low pitch-shifted part where I sing as an alter-ego. And Hue…the opener. ∆

 

Q) Who would you most like to collaborate with on a song in the future?

 

A) Kanye West, Chance The Rapper, Paul McCartney, Bon Iver and Frank Ocean

 

Q) What do you hope listeners take away from listening to Origins?

 

A) I hope they can pop on some headphones and feel transported somewhere else – somewhere that makes them feel good and forget where they are for a second. Good music has always given me that escape.

 

Q) Is there anything else you want be sure fans know about your music?

 

A) “Realign” is the most house-y thing I’ve done. The rest of the project shows many different sides to that so I hope you’re not expecting an hour of 4-on-the-floor. I’m very influenced by soul-pop, hip-hop, ambient sound… I think you’ll feel those other colors in

 

Q) You are a part of social media. Why is that such an important way to connect with your fans?

 

A) At a certain level you can get away without being a part of it – at least I think you can…. Frank [Ocean] deleted his a while ago. Some artists I love barely touch their accounts really. But I’m still at a point where I need to make that initial connection with people and build my audience. Plus, Instagram can be a great way to visually express yourself.

 

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who is a fan and supporter?

 

We are the music makers,

And we are the dreamers of dreams,

Wandering by lone sea-breakers,

And sitting by desolate streams;—

World-losers and world-forsakers,

On whom the pale moon gleams:

Yet we are the movers and shakers

Of the world for ever, it seems.