Xander Nelson

New music from Nora Haynes out today! I had the honor of playing acoustic and electric guitar on her song “NORA (Not Over-Reacting Anymore)” 🎸 Keep an eye on her - that she’s THIS talented a singer, songwriter and musician at only 12 years old is mind boggling.

AI is the antithesis of human creativity.

Speaking from experience (and as a Berklee grad), any work in the creative field (which obviously includes music) requires a good balance of imagination, artistic vision, and knowledge and competency with the craft. The more of those things we offload onto AI, the more authenticity and authorship we give up in our own work… not to mention losing out the beauty and skills found in the process.

There is an unspoken contract between any artist and their listeners that the music is a form of their artistic expression - the work of one or more human souls, reaching out to connect with others. Letting AI come into that relationship puts that contract into serious jeopardy.

It doesn’t have to be perfect. It just has to be real. It just has to be you.

Sure, in certain specific scenarios, AI has proven itself a useful tool. For that reason, it’s likely here to stay, and worth being familiar with to use in those few scenarios (or to know what you’re up against). But artists - PLEASE don’t let it start to do the work for you. I come to you and your art because I care about what YOU have to say - NOT what AI has to say FOR you, or how it has to say it.

What you might see as imperfections for AI to iron out just might be the quirks that make your artistic identity what it is… And losing that would be such a profound act of betrayal, to both you and your fans.

After almost two years of very hard work, I am delighted to officially announce that I’ve completed work on my next release. I firmly believe it’s my best, catchiest, most ambitious and most true-to-myself batch of songs to date. I CANNOT WAIT to share it with you all. Here are just some of the reasons I’m so excited about it:

- IT WILL BE MY FIRST FULL LENGTH ALBUM. Yup, you read that right - your boy made an LP this time around, with 11 songs on it instead of my usual 5.

- IT SEES ME FULLY EMBRACE MY POP/ROCK/EMO SOUND. I look at this album as something of a sonic rebirth. My songwriting has been leaning more and more in that direction for a long time, and rather than try to force these new songs into the mold of my older material, I’ve decided to let them tell me what they want to be. I think it turned out so much better for it. I’ve done a lot of growing since I put those last songs out - I’m not as angry as I used to be… But don’t worry, there are still some ferocious rock moments on this thing.

- IT WILL BE ABOUT THE ROLLER COASTER OF UPS AND DOWNS I’VE HAD OVER THE LAST FEW YEARS. In that time, I played the biggest shows of my life so far, and faced a deep depression and existential crisis. I started some of the most important relationships of my life, as others of equal importance fell to pieces. Just as I was starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, I had to rebuild my career from the ground up. I full-on fell out of love, and subsequently back in love, with making my own music. In short, I’ve been through some s #!t, both good and bad, and the music reflects that.

- I MADE IT WITH A WHOLE NEW BAND. Well, new-ish! The core band lineup on the album features my bandmates in Toby McAllister & The Sierra Sounds (Nate, Ben, Jake and Toby). From the moment I started playing with these guys, it felt like we’d been playing together all our lives, and I wanted to capture that musical chemistry on this record. As three of these fine fellas also happen to be members of Sparks The Rescue, a band that was hugely influential for me as a kid, expect some of that signature emo punch to show up sonically. Not to get too dramatic… but the fact that they’re playing on this record is a full circle moment that my 14 year old self would be absolutely positive I was pulling his leg about. Beyond that, they’re my friends and bandmates now - the people I send dumb memes back and forth to in the middle of the day - and honestly, that’s the best part.

- THERE WILL BE A TON OF GUEST APPEARANCES. The goal of this project was to make a record with my friends, and I think I succeeded in that. Keep an ear out for contributions from Andrew LaVogue, Cam Currier (of Primrose), Conor McGrory, Godfrey Furchgott, Hamilton “McKay” Belk, Jacob McCurdy, Jimmy Polewaczyk (of Alien Ultrasound), Lee Larson, Mike Cooper, and Patia Maule!

- I MADE PARTS OF IT IN KILLER STUDIOS WITH AMAZING PRODUCERS AND ENGINEERS… This was my first time working with the incredible Kevin Billingslea over at The Halo Studio, and it won’t be the last. He brought so much power and emotion out of these songs in a way I haven’t heard in my own music before, and I couldn’t be more grateful for it. His mixing and mastering raised these tunes up to totally different level. Godfrey Furchgott at G’s Louise Studio in NYC helped me get the best vocal takes I could for these songs - not to mention letting me crash in the live room so we could have multiple days to work! And last but not least, Sam Monaco and Ethan Woodman Fowler over at Monaco Studio helped me squeeze in drum recording for the 11th song in time to make the record!�

- …AND MADE OTHER PARTS OF IT MYSELF. One of the many reasons this record took a while to make is because I was using the process as an opportunity to teach myself how to do it in a way that works for me. I took what I’d learned about recording in college, and actually got to apply it. Now that I know what the heck I’m doing, hopefully the next release won’t take so long! (Now, to go knock feverishly on wood…)

I’ve been looking forward to sharing what I’ve been working on with you all. This album will be my first release under my own name since I became a full-time musician, and I think the new quality bar I’ve set with it reflects that.

Announcements on singles (of which there will be several) coming soon! Keep an ear out, won’t ya?

Love,
Xander

tonight with and ! Music starts at 9:30 🎸 ⛷️

I’ve got a great week ahead!

Wednesday -
Thursday -
Saturday - with and

See you at the gig! 🤘🏻

Come join Toby McAllister & The Sierra Sounds this Saturday, as we take the stage at One Longfellow Square with our friends in Ward Hayden & the Outliers!