aLFIE neALE: tRACKS That Shaped My Sound

Brighton-based artist Alfie Neale was the latest artist to feature in our 'Tracks That Shaped Our Sound' feature. The singer, songwriter, and producer, originally hailing from Dorset is now based in Brighton, England. His latest release ‘She Doesn’t Love Me’ was one of our favorites last week, we spoke to him about the tracks that influenced it. Enjoy:

Down The Line

I love this track in terms of production, it has a strange way of sounding very DIY but pristine at the same time which is hard to do and I'm a massive fan of it. The production in general around the backing vocals and the guitars really influenced She Doesn't Love Me even though it's a much softer track. I wish I had the power that Remi Wolf has singing but you make do with what you've got and I'm working on it haha!

Neu Roses

I'm mostly talking about when this tune drops towards the end, Daniel Caesar has such a smooth way of switching between his vocal registers and really pulling back on some words to emphasise those he wants to within a phrase. He's influenced how I sing a lot and his first album is the goal vocally for sure!

Small Worlds

This is a tune that does one of the best jobs of hiding mostly somber lyrics behind bright sounding chords and a nice beat, which is the essence of She Doesn't Love Me as well. Mac Miller was so good at this - it's sometimes nice even when you're writing about something like a breakup in my instance to still want people to have a good time when they're listening to it! I love how small the tracks

Taylor

I listened to Jack Johnson so much growing up - there's no better artist if you're learning to play and sing on an acoustic guitar to listen to in my opinion. He's never flashy but is such a ridiculously good storyteller that I don't think I've ever known anyone to not enjoy his music, a pretty good place to be as an artist I guess. A lot of the way I sing, melodically and rhythmically at the same time is a nod to how much I enjoy his music and it really goes to show that you don't need more than a good song with a story for people to love it.

Check it out below: