Cedric Noel

Montreal’s Cedric Noel today shares “Dove,” his gentle, harmonic new single featuring Brigitte Nagar (aka Common Holly), as a preview of his forthcoming album Hang Time, out November 12th, 2021, via Joyful Noise Recordings/Forward Music Group. "'Dove' touches on the wanting of emotional intimacy and how hard it can sometimes be to get there, be that within friendships, family or romantically," explains Noel. "I think the narrator is singing the lyrics somewhat sarcastically while trying to understand their own emotional shortcomings with the people close to them." 

Longtime fans of Noel’s will recognize the mercurial nature of the album’s open-ended rock formations: reflective strumming, soaring choruses, searing guitar lines, and subtle bass grooves all occasionally dissolve into pools of pure ambience. Yet fresh sonic surprises also abound: threads of folk pop, ambient and sound collage braid together to form a singular foundation for Hang Time’s expressive whole. What’s most striking, however, is Noel’s newfound voice. “For me, this album is about taking ownership of my identity on my own terms,” he says.

Written primarily in 2017-18 during an intense period of self-reflection, this collection of songs finds Noel wrestling profoundly with his sense of identity, self and place. Born in Niger, adopted by Canadian and Mozambican/Belgian parents, Noel spent his youth moving around the globe with his multi-racial family. While studying in Canada for university, Noel embedded himself in a predominantly white indie rock community that left him feeling, as a Black man, both seen and unseen in complicated ways; both welcome and not. This conflict would follow Noel through a move to Montreal in 2016, where he found himself again moving within predominantly white music communities. He then found respite in Ottawa, holed up temporarily in a family home, studying the various pieces of himself and putting them to place in his music.

Ultimately, Hang Time helps to grow the heart and expand perceptions, as Noel manages to ask hard questions (both of the listener and himself) in ways that are compassionate, open, and honest. “In a sense I wrote this record for a teenage version of myself and hope that it reaches those who find themselves in similar situations that I was when writing the album,” says Noel. “I hope that this album can contribute to the reimagination of what is understood as ‘black music’ and help remove the boundaries that term currently encompasses.”

(Press Release, Chromatic PR)