“I was born in late 1982, the year the first album to be released on CD, Billy Joel’s 52nd Street dropped.”
“My parents weren’t the hugest music collectors and we grew up in a strictly CD household. My grandparents were a different story though. My grandmother played classical piano as well as mandolin, accordion, and guitar, and my grandfather, an engineer, had a passion for collecting and fixing old turntables, both 78s and 45s, in addition to everything else he tinkered with.
Going to their apartment in New York City was always a revelation for me as a kid; beyond the excitement of the city there was always the music they would play—mostly classical, orchestral pieces by Beethoven, Mahler, or Sibelius, or sometimes French singers or even stories on vinyl.
Those old vinyl records always made me feel like I was in the room with the orchestra, the singer, the story teller. As a little kid, it felt exciting, and maybe a little frightening at times.
But most importantly, it felt real, as if my grandparents were casually introducing me to old friends of theirs.”
—Nir Felder
Nir Felder’s debut album, Golden Age, arrives in stores today, January 21 via Sony/OKeh.
