// Letters to YVYNYL //
premiere: Vincent John - Never Go Back (feat. Nicole Wray)
/ I love following the arc of an artist’s work, creatively and professionally. This piece came to me from Philadelphia years after I first wrote about Vincent’s other projects.
Hey Mark-
It’s a pleasure to reach out to you. You might remember my group Market East, who you helped put on the map in 2011 by premiering our track “Marielle”. I’ve been busy with Market East, Lee Fields & The Expressions (I’m a songwriter and guitarist for the group), other various endeavors and most recently, my solo Electro-Pop project, Vincent John.
At the time of Market East, I was at a crossroads between continuing music on the local level and pursuing the opportunity of touring with Soul artist Lee Fields. I had been a part of the crew as a co-writer of his Faithful Man album before being asked to join the touring band.
I had gotten tired from the let downs of failed passion projects and thought “hey, this is pretty cool. I’ll get paid to travel the world and play music. This is what I always wanted”. Instead of forging-on more seriously with Market East (which seemed to be a uphill financial and emotional battle), I decided to take a step back and be-a-part of a hardworking team that resulted in a better life than the local band hustle could have provided.
It was great. Traveling the world, meeting new people, trying new food.. It still is great. I love Lee and the rest of the guys like brothers but I hit serious rough patches on tour finding myself unable to be creative.
I decided I had to find a way to make music. I started producing beats out of drum machine samples while editing and mixing in the van on the way to far away places. Making music this way kept me in good spirits. In my mind, it began to bridge the gap between the 60s Soul music I was playing and today’s modern electronic music.
In the latter part of this time frame I began to resent being in New York, where I was currently living. I began to remember why Philly had been so good some years prior, where I used to live and where I’m from. I moved back to Philly in the summer of 2015 and wrote the songs for the “Never Go Back” EP, my debut being released this October.
I’m proud of these records and feel they’re the beginning of a catalog where I can truly express what I hear in my head. There’s a complicated and feel-good rhythmic back beat, vintage synths and analog drum machines, emotional chord changes and carefully constructed melodies. I sing about what I’m going through, channeling it all.
I’m happy and excited for what’s to come. It feels right and I can’t wait to make more music for this project.
I’m playing (Norther Liberties Philly venue) Ortlieb’s on October 7th and the EP release show is November 2nd at (South Philly venue) Boot & Saddle. I’d love to extend a personal invite to you to attend either/both.
The music is being released as a limited edition cassette w/Instrumentals as B-Side via Know Hope Records (Philly, PA)
Thanks, Mark. I appreciate you taking the time to read this & hope this letter finds you well.
-Vincent
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