Steve Noonan is releasing his third work, Dreamland, on January 29. It’s a wonderful collection of 13 musicals stories. We got to hear some of the back stories to the musical stories today – the sad, the sweet, the autobiographical and purely imagined.
Steve has amazing talent and an unbelievable background in music. He went to Berklee College of Music Along (with others colleges!). He’s a former recording engineer for Prince. He plays a 12 string guitar. He has a rich voice and writes songs. It was fun to hear about how all of those elements had an impact on his new album. His lyrics are careful with the sound of the words being as important as the meaning in building emotion for the listener. The notes are as carefully constructed using certain chords (again from a 12 strong guitar) to evoke emotion.
Steve creates a thorough and specific chart for the musicians. It’s a roadmap that, when put into the hands of the quality musicians on the album, leads to a specific destination. For example, the piano solo in Dreamland (the song) was recorded live during the studio take. Steve says it was luck, but I think it’s what happens when people are well prepared and invested in the work. It makes for songs that do draw out feeling and warmth for the album.
Mostly Minnesota 