An Interview With Noah Gazmen
An album release from Noah Gazmen brings out a lush and experimental set of soundscapes that can really engulf you in their tones and vast underbellies, all with this particular sort of honesty that breeds character and delivers loads of personality along the way.
The Hold Me While I Disappear album is packed with these ethereal and almost dreamlike textures that are layered and rich, thick with authenticity, and all bringing with them a certain kind of mood that can wrap itself around you and keep you right where it wants to.
The record was very little time getting to the point with its first track "bite the sand", which certainly starts you off with this ambient tonality by way of very vast and slightly fuzzy synth pads that create an atmosphere that does indeed feel like a dream and invites you to sort of drift along with it.
This is a great track to introduce the record with, simply because you are getting some of the staples that you'll hear throughout the record in full.
Having said that, listening to this album as a whole is really important because there are plenty of surprises around the corners, and I feel like this is an album that's meant to be heard from start to finish.
There are bouts of honesty throughout the album that tell stories and almost touch on the fact that this may be a concept record after all. A lot of these tracks are cinematic with these expansive aesthetics, and others keep to those kinds of formats but also bring in a lighter, more colorful pop undertone as well.
This record has several influences behind it, but I feel like it's the actual personality that reaches out and grabs you here.
A lot of these songs are a little bit vulnerable and feel like they're coming from someplace very authentic, so some of these songs are ones that a lot of us may connect with.
I personally love the pieces of music that are more experimental while still setting moods, giving off this wildly cinematic feel. Tracks like "insect Theory" are a perfect example of exactly that.
Again, there are a lot of layers happening here, and the record is so texturally lush that you don't want to miss any of it.
Listening to this album is like an experience more than anything else. First of all, you will escape into it. It will pull you away from wherever you are and whatever you are doing and put you in an entirely different place for a chunk of time.
This, to me, is like a gift. When you listen to the record in full, you get the full experience. The songs do indeed interconnect with each other in different ways, and you want to experience all of the different tonalities in one shot.
Listening to the record with headphones is hands down the best way to do this.
There are so many tones and textures, notes and sounds that flow through the ethers of some of these songs and create that robust and vibrant but moody atmosphere.
Putting on a pair of headphones and listening to this record lets you really swim through everything.
Certain tracks feel both peaceful and haunting at the same time and you don't know exactly how to feel about that, but this is something that I found quite brilliant.
Songs like "the photographer" do things like this.
It's such a unique and outside-the-box style and approach to expressing emotion, mood, inner thought, and feelings.
This record feels like it's got a depth to it that again feels like it was vulnerable to an extent.
If you want to have a real and genuine music experience that will pull you away and take you along for this journey through emotion and tone, then this is a record that's 100% for you.
After listening to this album, we had to talk with Noah just so we could know more about how it came to be and what might be coming up next for the artist.
Here's what happened.
TSWS: Hey Noah, thanks for taking some time with us! Let's talk a bit about the Hold me While I Disappear album! This was a record that had a dreamy flow to it and that vast undertone made it feel cinematic along with some amazing textures and soundscapes. Where did this album come from?
Hello!! 'Hold Me While I Disappear' kind of just became a random project one day. I was like, "I haven't worked on music in a while. I want to make an album." I honestly didn't know that it would extend to nineteen months. The concept of the album, however, is something that I've had an idea about for a long time. I just wasn't able to put it into anything until now.
TSWS: I am hearing some great styles here! Can you give us some of your biggest musical influences?
When it comes to 'Hold Me While I Disappear', I had a lot of musical influences. During that time, I listened to a lot of Radiohead, Cocteau Twins, Deftones, Have A Nice Life and more. These influences can probably be heard down to specific elements of certain tracks off of the album.
TSWS: How did this all start for you as an artist?
If you're talking about being an artist in general, my music career started when I was fifteen. I wrote and recorded over YouTube beats on Audacity. I went in a more underground SoundCloud rapper direction that I kind of want to revisit some day. In 2020, I got more into production and engineering, expanding my horizons and eventually becoming the "artsy" avant-garde experimental artist I am today.
TSWS: Do you find it hard to write records like this?
If you're asking in terms of the overall creation, I'd say it was difficult. It's the longest I've ever worked on something and the first time I had to take a break from it due to a creative block. Now, if you're speaking on how personal the album is, that part was kind of easy. When it comes to my full-length LPs, I usually use fictional characters and their own stories to connect to mine. However, I've been able to really get personal. I just think the concepts and worldbuilding make things a lot more interesting.
TSWS: This record has a "hidden Meaning"! Can you elaborate on that at all?
I'm going to try to not be too "mysterious" or "cryptic" about this without revealing the true meaning, because I genuinely do want people to figure it out. But, the main characters: Jesse Greene and Nate Greene are not two different people. They're the same. That's all I'm going to say...
TSWS: Do you play live shows at all?
Not yet, but I definitely want to. I feel like I'd need more turn up music though. Maybe some hard distorted 808s stuff. But, we'll see.
TSWS: Who is in your headphones right now?
Last song I listened to was "ms crashout" by k3 and the last album I listened to was 'New Nostalgia' by Pale North.
TSWS: Do you ever collaborate with others to release music?
I actually just got done working on two projects for my friends this year. The first one was 'My Rotting Body' by pinksuicide, which I helped produce. The second one was 'ADHD' by TELLALI, which I helped mix and master. I might have some more collaborations this year, but I can't say right now.
TSWS: Now that this record is released, what is next for you?
Honestly, I'm not so sure. In terms of solo music, I'm gone. I'll still collaborate with other artists and assist them with their projects though. Also, I might get back to releasing music through my side projects.
TSWS: What can you say people might expect from this album?
Don't expect anything. Just go into it and listen. Read upon the descriptions under each track on either Bandcamp, SoundCloud or YouTube. What you get is what you get.
TSWS: Thanks so much for this Noah!!
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