Photo by Abby Clare
Written by Richie Oliver
Christian Sparacio’s music falls into its own category. Combining revealing lyrics with chill instrumentation creates a space of cosmic astringency, causing blood to flow slower and the body to achieve zen.
Fresh off the release of his wonderful cover of Modern English’s “I Melt With You,” I had the opportunity to sit down virtually with Sparacio to talk about music, influences, and what it means to make music.
Richie Oliver: What is your definition of music?
Christian Sparcio: Music is just an expression of your soul. I think a lot of musicians and creators alike will agree with me in saying that moments of creation are often in a flow state, and I think that this state is sort of like handing your subconscious a quill and letting it write for 30 to 40 minutes or two hours, however long it is.
Then, it goes away, you know what I mean? So it's like, “Wow, that just happened all on its own.” It's like your subconscious has an opportunity to speak now. It’s the truest form of what you're actually feeling, even when your conscious mind might not even be aware of it at the time.
RO: What does music say when it speaks to you?
CS: What I really love about music is the sense of place that it gives me. It places me somewhere, whether it's the person's perspective really resonating with me, so I feel like I know them and I feel like I'm with them, or I feel like I'm literally in a specific place.
This makes me feel like I'm on the El Camino trail in Spain with my friend Joe. I also just love the way that it exceeds the emotion of the person that's speaking, even if it's something that can be silly or super romantic.
RO: Looking back at your latest release, what brought you to Modern English?
CS: So ultimately, I think we decided that we wanted to cover something, and we said, “you know what? I could go and cover some 70s folk rock. It would be logical,” but we wanted to do something that I could really put my own spin on and that also people knew.
We were even considering hip hop songs. “OK, that would be different.” We were considering, you know, modern pop songs.
Then my friend Jimmy came along, because I was like, “dude, I can't settle on the song” and he goes, “well, Modern English’s ‘I Melt With You.’ Everyone knows that song. It's one of the most popular songs ever. It's also pretty upbeat and not similar to anything you've ever made. I think you could do an interesting spin on it.”
I just sat down and did a demo of it, showed my band, and then you go into the studio and you're grooving with bass and drums and then you get your trumpet player on and you're like, “OK, this became something.” It definitely let me sort of give off my sort of chiller vibe on it and kind of embrace those lyrics a little bit more.
RO: When it comes to writing, do you find that you write your lyrics first, or does melody come to you first?
CS: It's a combination of the two, because I'll think of a melody in my head, but almost always, there's words that come with that melody. Then they will sort of be the catalyst for the rest of the song.
I'll think of a melody and then have some association with words, so, I'd say first and foremost, melody, definitely. Words come later because it takes time to craft a story and be meticulous about it.
RO: Who are your biggest influences?
CS: That's a tough question. Vocally, I grew up on Frank Sinatra. As I got older, I discovered that I was able to sing with falsetto.
When it comes to songwriting, I've been a massive John Mayer fan. I love The Head And The Heart, and I definitely take a lot of influence from them. You [Richie] mentioned Jim Croce [in your review], and I never even realized how much I take from him without even knowing it.
I mean, because I've had so much music in my life, and playing that, it's really hard to narrow it down to one because it's really just this one amalgamation of a million different artists. Jim Croce is now someone I listen to all the time, both lyrically and vocally.
RO: When you die, what's on your epitaph? What do you want your gravestone to say?
CS: To be honest, I don't want a gravestone.
RO: You don’t want a gravestone?
CS: I don't think so. I think I want to be cremated and just like, boom. Done. My family will remember me.
RO: What are some of your hobbies outside of music?
CS: I love pickup basketball. I work at a brewery, so I love going out and trying a lot of different beers. I love traveling around and meeting new people, going on cool hikes and traveling to different countries.
I've had the privilege of being able to go to a lot of European countries and see a lot of cool stuff. So yeah, that’s stuff I like.
RO: Is there anything that we can expect from you in the future?
CS: I’m writing an album right now, and I'm just writing as much as I can, so my immediate next move is just going to be keeping an eye out for live stuff. I've signed with [a talent agency], so they'll be my club booking.
I think I'll be on the road quite a bit in the fall and spring when the world opens, so keep an eye out for those dates that are going to be coming out. I'm also going to hopefully be doing a lot of live session stuff and, you know, revamping stuff that I already have.
I'll be in the writing room and in the studio constantly now, making sure I can get these songs done. Hopefully we'll be able to get them going, you know, late summer, early fall, you know. So that's kind of where I'm at right now.
RO: Thank you for taking the time to speak with me today. Where can people find you?
CS: No, thank you! I really appreciate it. On all streaming platforms, you can find me under Christian Sparacio. On social media, you can find me on almost all platforms under @SparacioMusic.
Once again, we would like to thank Christian Sparacio for taking the time to speak with us about music and life as a whole. Make sure to follow Christian on Twitter at @sparaciomusic.
Who do you want to see us interview next? Let us know on Twitter at @lgndsoftmrw!
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