18 Oct Featured Artist | Christopher Neel | Selfish (I’m Gonna Be)
Featured Artist
Christopher
Neel
Minneapolis, MN · 2019
Christopher Neel is a classically trained composer and performer with a BA in music composition. He works as a professional freelance composer and songwriter in the Twin Cities, bringing a deep analytical approach to both classical and contemporary songwriting.
When I come across something that I really like, I’ll listen to it over and over on repeat, do a full analysis on it, and then as a learning exercise I’ll attempt to reverse engineer it.
Artist Interview
Can you tell us about your musical background? Have you had any formal training?
When I was younger my parents took me to see the Chicago Symphony perform Beethoven’s Piano Concerto No. 4 and it changed my life forever. From the moment those small hammers struck the strings of the piano, unleashing a celestial G Major chord that seemed to reverberate infinitely throughout Orchestra Hall, I was captivated and desperately needed to learn how to compose music. I got my hands on every score I could find and did a full analysis on all of my favorite compositions — learning how the great composers crafted melodies, developed motifs, created harmonies, and voiced chords.
Your lyric writing is concise in a way that translates well to pop. Do you do a lot of editing and rewriting?
I always write the music in one shot and rarely find myself rewriting melodies or harmonies. Lyrics, on the other hand, are constantly being tweaked — because of how difficult it is for me to write them. Each time I’m working on lyrics I find myself looking them over and thinking: “Wow, this is a complete dumpster fire,” and then starting over. Eventually everything finally starts to fall into place and hopefully makes for a meaningful, relatable story for the audience.
When starting a new song, do you begin with lyrics, melody, or chords?
Every song always starts with the melody for me — and ironically, the melody will usually just pop into my head when I’m doing something completely unrelated to music. I’ll be making dinner or watching TV and suddenly a melody just floats in and I have to drop everything I’m doing and write it down before I forget it.
When searching for your voice as an artist, did you choose a specific genre intentionally or let it happen naturally?
Finding my voice has always been a process of listening to as much music from as many genres as possible. When I come across something I really like, I listen to it over and over, do a full analysis, and then attempt to reverse engineer it as a learning exercise. What ended up happening is that I learned all the tricks of the trade from my favorite songwriters and composers by dissecting their music — and it all came together to create my own voice.
What does creating songs mean to you? What’s your intention in making a piece of work?
Taking a break from composing contemporary classical music to work as a songwriter revives the recreational aspect of music for me. It gives me the opportunity to focus on rhythm and melody without the complex structures required of classical compositions. Songwriting enables me to reach out and tell a story in a concise format that will ideally resonate with listeners.
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Craig Martin Johnson
Posted at 00:38h, 03 NovemberAs a songwriter of “yesterday’s” music, I’m not much of a connoisseur of today’s techno pop music. But, with that being said, even though this song fits in well within that culture, I found it very catchy to the point of grabbing my attention and listening all the way through (something that rarely happens to me in regards to “today’s” songs). Also, the arrangement was perfectly simple, with great syncopations, to allow the strength of the song to stand out on its own. I feel this song has a very good chance of “making it”… GOOD LUCK!