Noah Horne is a musician who wants to show you an otherworldly experience. His instrument of choice isn't too common nowadays, but mixing harp into his songs has given Noah the opportunity to expose his audience to its fantastical sound. Noah was born in London and raised in the British countryside of Norfolk County, where music has a great impact on communities. This passion inspired Noah to pursue music full-time despite opposing opinions. He went on to join the music project "Wild Life FM" in 2015, a show ran by teenagers looking to touch on important issues such as teenage anxiety and songwriting, and breaking the status quo through music. Now based in London, Noah has polished his pop-influenced sound and has released his first three singles as a trilogy of songs. The third and final track was just released on October 4, so let's take a look at it!
"Lift Off" is an enchanting take on a classic pop song. Noah and his harp shine from start to finish. The harp's sound is so familiar and calming but sounds so unique when presented with elements typical of music today. For example, the lyrics about letting go of a toxic relationship instantly reminded us of pop anthems we oh so love to sing like "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry or "Blank Space" by Taylor Swift. And the chorus is just as killer. Combine that with Noah's tender voice and it creates the most charming song that is "Lift Off". It's fresh and so uplifting, despite being a breakup song in nature. His take on music is brilliant, so please make sure you give "Lift Off" a listen! Check it out here.
Noah! Hello and welcome to BuzzMusic! "Lift Off" is stunning and truly refreshing. Can you tell us how the sound of this song fits into the trilogy of hits you've released this year?
Hello BuzzMusic! Thank you so much. Firstly I just want to say thank you so much for taking the time to listen to my music, it means planet earth to me. Lift Off is definitely the rawest song out of the trilogy. It’s also the most left-field and weirdest out of all of them so that really excites me. It’s much more stripped back as it needs to be the most human and upfront, highlighting the natural quality, as if I was just speaking to someone next to me. The song is about letting go of a toxic relationship and adding squeaky clean pop synths just wasn’t the right approach for this original record. For the remixes - absolutely! All I needed for this original track was my solo vocal, the harp, a piano to ground the emotional vocal down and reverb to create a sense of space between me and this toxic person drifting into outer space.
Where did you get the inspiration to write "Lift Off"?
I wrote Lift Off when I was 19. I had fallen for someone so badly and they didn’t love me back - it was horrible! I don’t wish it on anyone. When I was being isolated by my peers and by this toxic relationship, the only place around me to look for hope was up. My grandad showed me that Norfolk in the UK has one of the clearest night skies in the country, you can see the galaxies and stars, giving you a sense of hope, knowing there are bigger things in life. There’s a space-age optimism movement that has been sifting into the popular culture since the 1950s and it circulates around hope. My mum showed me cartoons when she was young including button moon and Wallace and Gromit, where there were stories of people driving their cars to the moon to have a picnic lunch. I began to form this childlike image of putting this toxic person in a hot air balloon and launching them into outer space and never returning, and that was when we had ‘LIFT OFF’! Kinda savage when I thought about the imagery, but drastic measures needed to be carried out to get this person out of my life haha. My imagination is pretty surrealistic and I needed to reflect that through the song. I literally wrote Lift Off on my younger sister's mini toy keyboard, as she was starting to learn piano at the time. I don’t know what it was but the lyrics and the music just came together so naturally, nothing was forced and I wasn’t searching for the hook, it was just there.
What do you hope listeners take away when they listen to your music?
Sometimes we need to let go of toxic people or relationships in our lives to progress forward. I was isolated as I teenager because of who I am now, people bullied me and I was pushed to the fringe. I was a misfit. My music shows how I was alienated (hence the outer space backdrop), but also how we can be better people by coming together, becoming more inclusive and bonding over music. There is also not enough unification and the world has lost a sense of community. What delights me about your amazing blog is that you have a community of people. Communities exist but it's crucial to continue to come together.
You've talked about focusing on pop and dance-orientated music. Which artists do you feel most connected to musically from these genres?
Great question! In terms of where I am heading, I love what Lady Gaga and Sia have done, huge commercial successes but they have a sense of being a misfit and rejected by the mainstream, pushing them to the fringes, catapulting them into the mainstream market. There’s the EDM club music influenced by the queer DJs in 1980s NYC, but with lyrical themes nodding to the zeitgeist of self-acceptance and becoming inclusive. Clean Bandit, however, is just incredible. I would like my sound to steer down that path, with the EDM and the acoustic harp just blending together perfectly. Aside from genres, Lana Del Rey is my favorite artist, her concept of the 60s sad core Hollywood is brilliant, I really think so! There are some elements I will take from Perfume Genius and Imogen Heap too, so different yet so interesting to listen. Hide and Seek by Imogen Heap is one of my favorite songs as it's all about isolation, which is reflected through the alien vocoder, utterly beautiful.
Thank you Noah! What's the next focus for you and your music?
Thank you so much, your superstars! Well…I’ve got a new exciting track coming out early next year which is going to go down the dance-pop path, I literally cannot wait for you guys to hear it. The next focus is performing live a lot more in London and finally lifting off more into the big wide world. A debut EP maybe even dropping next year, it will be fun! Everything's so scary and so unknown right now, but I have so much faith in the future that everything will become clear and fall into place. Much love to you! x