Indie artist Noah Chenfeld likes the chaos of moving and experiencing various life transitions. It fuels his songwriting. And as a college kid, he had his share of changes, especially transferring schools not once, but twice. Chenfeld took this chaos that many people would find stressful and turned it into an outlet, that plugged his single “Stop The Bus”.
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“I had just returned to New York City from college in Boston after transferring a second time, a difficult decision for me, and had mixed feelings about it,” Chenfeld told American Songwriter. “Prior to this I was writing most of my songs on piano. Now I wanted to make guitar music like Weezer and The Strokes. Right around this time I also wrote ‘Wind Speed’ and ‘Boston’, two songs I released last year that are also driven by electric guitars and upbeat drums.
“I write at my best when I have just moved,” he added. “When I went to college in Boston, I wrote a lot of songs the first few weeks and months I was there. The same thing occurred when I moved back to New York City, like ‘Stop the Bus’. I’m not sure why this is happens. Maybe it’s because a new location can inspire a new version of yourself and you want to express that new version while it’s still fresh.
“Stop The Bus” is what Chenfeld described as a “lyrical stream of consciousness”. While the lyrics do explore a broad theme and are absent of a traditional narrative, there is some structure to the words as Chenfeld belts the chorus connecting the loosely associated verses: ‘I find it hard it to believe that the world will fall asleep’.
The music completely rattles and rolls, finding its footing in the rock-driven guitars that align with melodic styles of pop vocals and the softness of new wave through the use of piano and synths.
Chenfeld recorded the new wave, pop/rock fusion at Shelter Island Sound in midtown Manhattan with his band under engineer Ray Aldaco. Chenfeld and his band tracked everything live except the vocals, which were quickly overdubbed just hours after.
While Chenfeld would like to keep recording and tour to promote his newest single, he comprehends the nature of the music industry right now and shares his goals for his music in the hopefully near future.
“I’d like to be in a position where I can tour and bring people out to my shows, even if it’s only a handful of people initially,” said Chenfeld. “It’s hard to think about touring right now because live music is cancelled for the time being, but imagining driving across the country, playing music is a nice daydream. I also want to release an album! I’ve put out lots of singles, an EP, but never an LP.”
