Singer-songwriter senior Noa Zimmerman’s new album, “Night’s Gentle Crash,” shows her rising career with its soothing rhythm and calm vocals.
This is no High School Musical pop album―it’s an accumulation of musical styles, all used to portray Zimmerman’s perception of young love.
“Night’s Gentle Crash” was released Feb. 25 and is Zimmerman’s fourth album. The 11-track-studio produced album utilizes her guitar and singing skills, which are accompanied by percussion sounds and bass guitar.
The album depicts Zimmerman’s frustration with relationships and the overall pain that can result from letting too far into your life.
“The general message is that the more vulnerable you are with someone the more they have the capacity to hurt you, so the album is about understanding that and knowing how much you should let a person in because it is difficult to deal with when it goes badly,” Zimmerman said.
Some of the album’s songs including, “Night’s Gentle Crash,” “When I’m Alone with You” and “So What Now” help her display these vivid feelings in a range of musical styles. In “Night’s Gentle Crash” her lyrical story coexists with the acoustic guitar in a manner to show what she is truly feeling.
“I was able to do a lot of it in a studio so I had a lot of resources available to me that I never had before,” Zimmerman said.
In addition to her instrumental ability, Zimmerman displays incredible songwriting talent. She saturates her songs with powerful imagery that provides a picture of what’s going on inside her mind. Like many popular artists, Zimmerman’s capacity to sing her own written songs adds an extra genuine layer to her work that makes her an even more skillful artist.
“I’ve been writing ‘Night’s Gentle Crash’ since a few years ago, but the production itself didn’t start until the beginning of last summer and then we started working on it together in July to put it out in February,” Zimmerman said.
One commanding skill that is spread throughout Zimmerman’s new album is her ability to incorporate a variety of genres. For example, the song “Burning Away” combines a blues-like melody with an alternative beat. The song “So What Now” additionally uses a fingerpicking guitar technique that gives the tune a unique sound.
While most of Zimmerman’s songs are the type that one would lay in solitude to listen to, some, like “Your Love” or “I Tried,” are more upbeat.
Nothing about this album is repetitive in any sense of the word. Each track is different from the last, but still draws back to the the main theme of relationships and trust. The songs vary from folk to pop to alternative while never straying too far from Zimmerman’s style.
Zimmerman’s skills have landed her a spot at USC’s Thornton School of Music, where she will be able to harness all of her abilities and use them for the variety of opportunities the school provides.
“Night’s Gentle Crash” will build momentum for Zimmerman’s future music career and may be looked back upon as her emergence onto the music scene.
Along with her Advanced Performance Workshop concerts, Zimmerman has started playing her album at separate venues. Zimmerman is playing next this Sunday at Soul Studios in Fairfax. She is also excited about her summer gig at the Fairfax Festival on June 11 at 1:30 p.m. on the Redwood Stage.
