Speelburg is looking for somewhere to call home in his new single and video Brownstone — premiering exclusively on Tinnitist.
The followup to the intercontinental singer-songwriter’s 2020 Porsche album, Brownstone finds Belgian-American singer, songwriter and producer Noah Sacré seeking safety, security and shelter amid our contemporary urban dystopia — while grooving to the strains of a soulfully supple synth-pop soundtrack and a headnodding R&B groove.
“ ‘The rent is too damn high’ is what kept rattling around my head when I was writing Brownstone,” Sacré explains to Tinnitist. You either pause the rent or live long enough to see yourself become a landlord or something. Since the world around us is completely for sale, I thought I’d get in on the ground floor … that’s what the video is, i guess: Real estate is the new chillwave.”
Brownstone, he continues, is “a spiritual continuation of my album Porsche. Like when a lizard’s tale breaks off and it grows a new one and you can soooo tell it’s had work done. For a minute I even considered adding Brownstone to my debut, but ultimately felt it deserved its own time in the sun. Like a lizard.”
Since his debut in 2014, Speelburg has amassed over 11 million total streams from various releases, including his 2019 single Say Hello, which was prominently featured in a pair commercials. Speelburg is as much a compelling and exciting visual artist as he is an innovative musician, as best represented by his videos for Screener Season, his ode to Sofia Coppola films, and the animated Headlights video.
Watch Brownstone above, listen to it on your preferred service HERE, and let Speelburg make you feel at home on his website, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and TikTok. But first, find out more about Speelburg by reading his 20 Questions answers below.
Introduce yourself: Name, age (feel free to lie), home base and other details you’d like to share — height / weight / identifying marks / astrology sign / your choice.
Hey! Noah, about 1m85, not sure about weight coz scales make you sad, Cancer, born on the second day of summer.
What is your musical origin story?
Started playing when I was six, learning classical guitar, then started heavily messing around with production when I was a teenager and being in really fun teenage metal and ska bands. Then, I moved from France to England where I went to college, met some friends, started a band and that eventually led to me doing the solo thing, which is what you know and love today as Speelburg.
What’s your latest project? Tell us everything we need to know.
Wow, that’s a big question. I recently released my first-ever album Porsche and I’m pretty psyched. It took me about 2.5 years to complete because I wanted to get it as right as I could. It’s got plenty of samples of my family and friends from when my parents would film us when we were kids and casts a pretty wide net genre-wise, though I’m sure everyone says that. It’s the first ever actual full-length album I’ve put out and I couldn’t be prouder. It’s weird talking about something that means so much to you without wanting to literally walk you through each production and songwriting decision that was made. I’ve heard it so much, at this point it’s like having done a play for two and a half years, it’s just in your bones, you just know it so well.
What truly sets you apart from other artists?
Nothing at all. Maybe where I grew up, and who my friends and family are, and all the experiences I’ve had, and all the music I’m into. But besides that, there are no discernible differences between me and Sheryl Crow.
What will I learn or how will my life improve by listening to your music?
You’ve been living life in black and white and you’ll finally experience color for the first time. It really depends if you’re a music first or lyrics first kind of person. If it’s the former, you’ll probably enjoy figuring out how some of those sounds were made. If it’s the latter, there’s a lot of joy built in to this album but a lot. There’s some darker songs masquerading as upbeat ones too but that’s probably up to the listener to figure out.
What album / song / artist / show changed your life?
The Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater 1 and 2 soundtracks. I would say, maybe not completely in genre, but in breadth and musical scope and the curation behind it was better than anything else out there.
Tell us about the first song you wrote and / or the first gig you played and what you got paid.
I’m not sure about the first gig I played but I can remember playing Rage Against The Machine covers in my high-school auditorium to a bunch of moshing 15 year olds. It was a charity bake sale and we got paid no money.
What is the best / worst / strangest / most memorable performance you’ve seen another artist give?
I saw a buddy of mine play a set on Ecstasy. It was like really chill acoustic folk songs to 200 people on a Sunday night, and he was flying pretty high. That was pretty funny. He was supposed to play percussion in our set that night and our bass player was running around trying to get him some mango juice because he thought that would help him come down quicker. No one got hurt and everyone had a good time. Especially our buddy up on stage.
What do you want to be doing in 10 years?
Playing really chill acoustic folk songs to 200 people on a Sunday night. On Ecstasy. That said, I would settle for playing any show, anytime, anywhere. Ecstasy optional.
What living or dead artists would you collaborate with if you could?
Probably John Mayer coz he seems like a good hang. William Onyeabor would have been really fun to make spaced-out disco with. And the Beastie Boys. Very much the Beastie Boys.
What artist or style of music do you love that would surprise people?
I love all that Les Baxter exotica and anything with birds baked in. Also the Mighty Sparrow and all that calypso stuff is super fun. A lot of that education came direct from The Avalanches mixtapes, though. I don’t know if it’s all that surprising listening to Porsche, but I would for sure recommend it.
What are your favourite songs / albums / artists right now?
Super hard question to answer coz there’s a so much great music coming out every day but if I was making you a mixtape right now, I’d throw on some Jim-E-Stack because that song rules, Will DiMaggio because I just found out that’s the new alias of Jaw Jam who I was a huge fan of and then disappeared, Sylvan Esso because their album is super fun, Lady Wray because she has the best voice around, Blake Mills to feel something, Photay for all the ear candy and the boogie, Remi Wolf for literally all the reasons and some Harry Nilsson for the songwriting.
Who would you be (or have you been) starstruck to meet?
I’d love to meet Blake Gopnik for lunch — if I ever finish this amazing Warhol biography — and just pick his brain. I’d love to sit down and write something with Sofia Coppola and I’d like to one day own one or more of Action Bronson’s paintings.
What do you drive and why? What do you want to drive and why?
Bird/Lime scooters are undoubtedly a blast, even if you look like an asshole. And last time I was in L.A. I really tried to make the bike thing happen. It’s not the same vibe as biking in a European city and you’ll likely end up quite sweaty when you arrive at your destination, but it’s still a fun way to get around.
What superpower do you want and how would you use it?
I’d like to be able to control time, go back and forth and go hang out with my parents when they were younger, that kind of thing. I’d also like the ability to multiply myself. I think that’d be great for live shows and getting work done on time.
What skills — useful or useless — do you have outside of music?
I can speak French and some Italian, do a Rubik’s Cube pretty fast and juggle. I can also do the Eiffel Tower trick on a yo-yo and that’s probably the most useless one.
What do you collect?
Half-baked song ideas on multiple hard drives.
If I had a potluck, what would you bring?
Salad because my salads are great. The problem is they’re so great, you probably wouldn’t want to eat anything else and it would ruin the potluck for everyone coz there wasn’t enough of my delicious salad to go around.
If you could have any other job besides music, what would it be and why?
Besides the things I already do, like directing and editing, probably act or some kind of industrial or graphic design. I don’t think I’d be a very good accountant or be the best person to teach you sky-diving, but I’d be happy to throw on some podcasts and design a few logos.
What’s the best advice and/or worst advice you were ever given?
I was told that doing this interview would be good for my career and I eagerly look forward to the fame.
