Noah Richardson describes his journey with mental health on "I Don't Know Nothing"
Philly-rooted artist Noah Richardson shares his latest single of 2021, “I Don’t Know Nothing”, via Free Dive Records. This song was produced/mixed by Tyler Ripley and recorded at Little Brother Audio in Philadelphia, PA.
“I Don’t Know Nothing” creates an atmosphere of playfulness and innocence before leading the listener onto a vast change of attitude with aggressive bass and guitars in the chorus. Opposites attract with Richardson’s smooth call and response vocals, asking the question do we really know what's going on? Am I truly on the right track? Am I an imposter?
“For the past 5 years, I had been battling mental illness and was prescribed to different medications. These really have kinda numbed my emotions and personality for a long time, making me question who I was and why I even trusted these people trying to help me, ultimately resulting in a huge existential/identity crisis.” said Noah.
Noah, a 22 year old recent graduate from West Chester University, provides a catchy song we can all relate to. We’ve all gone through ups and downs while figuring out who we are. The song came to Richardson, where he has spent the majority of his writing at; the basement of his family’s funeral home.
“I originally wrote this on my casio keyboard in my basement at home. I wasn’t thinking of much, just had this chord progression going and mumbling out whatever was coming to me. I listened back on my voice memos to try and decipher it and had it pretty much done in like 30 minutes. Just this weird stream of consciousness of words.” said Noah.
Noah then took this song and worked with producer Tyler Ripley where they spent countless hours adding layers, recording, and mixing the song. Various instruments were added which gave innocence to the hard topic of mental illness as an adolescent and teenager, one that is often pushed aside while growing up.
Mellotron flutes in the verse to give it a playful bounce followed by having Richardson inhale helium to sing the falsetto backing vocals, which give it extra gloss and a hint of something Jim Henson would’ve created.
“We just happened to have a balloon in the studio, and we were tracking vocals, I walked in, gave it to him (Noah) and he was like dude yes!” laughed Tyler Ripley, producer.
“Everyone has their battles, their highs and lows, but how we use that energy is important, and I think music is one of the best forms of therapy, so for Noah to be able to say hey, I’ve been going through these battles and its okay to still be figuring out who you are as a person, that is incredibly valuable for the listener to hear.” added Ripley.
Noah Richardson is scheduled to release more music over the next couple months via Free Dive Records.
Listen to "I Don't Know Nothing" on Spotify:
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