Noah Topliff Is Right on Time — Thanks for Having Me #2

The time in your twenties is best measured in light-years. You grow, you change, you become, you lose, and most importantly, you are.

When I got my hands on the newest Alexander Natalie record, one that was half a decade in the making, I knew that I had to revive this series (which second edition felt half a decade in the making) to speak to Noah Topliff — Alexander Natalie’s primary songwriter and lead guitarist — about the project.

Susu feels like nothing short of a miracle, arriving at a personally liminal time. It was my soundtrack as I made my way back home to Saint Paul the old-fashioned way: in a car with my parents. Noah and I met in Hidden Falls to talk about waiting five years to release an album, God or something like that, and obviously, Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse.

*** *** ***

Aaron: Which one of you is the English major? Because nobody owns two copies of Siddhartha otherwise. 

Noah: No. So, Sam, Sam's an English major.

Aaron: There had to be one. 

Noah: So he's an English major. And yeah, he's the one that had the two copies of Siddhartha. Which I'm so glad that we included that, because the whole sort of impetus with that was that, you know, the whole first album was very much us thinking it was a lot artsier than it actually was. 

Aaron: Yeah, it's pretty dark. I had a question for later on, but [that first album], it contained a lot of tension. I think that was the best word I could find for it. 

Noah: I was definitely not doing good when I wrote it. It is super dark. 

Aaron: Yeah, the lyric that I had written down was, “we were painting each other's face with the spits of our fights again.” That and then there's a really shrieking dissonance on, "I'm not a part of it." There are parts where it's almost tough to listen to from an emotional standpoint. And then this new record is so open and it's so quiet. It's very free. 

Noah: I was happy. There's a lot of straight up stuff on it. [During the first record] I was younger, you know, I was 21 when that came out, maybe I was 22. And a lot of it I wrote when I was like 18, but we recorded it when I was 21. Whereas [Susu] just came out and I'm 27 going on 28. The amount of growth that you do in that period is astronomical. 

Aaron: Definitely. One thing I found really funny, I don't know if this was on purpose, but Siddartha being a Bildungsroman, you know, this Coming-of-Age novel. Do you think Susu was that for Alexander Natalie? 

Noah: I mean, it definitely is like a Coming-of-Age, but also, like I say on [Susu], I've never read it. I've never read the book.

And that's what's funny too, is just clowning on Sam for having two copies of a book, but also being in the standpoint of: I've never fucking read — maybe it is worth having two copies, I don't know! You know, we wanted to have that in there because the first record was so fucking serious and dark and ultimately is a lot more straightforward than I thought it was at the time.

I was thinking, "we're really sonically pushing shit!" Then I look back and I think, “well, using feedback isn't really doing anything new.” But we wanted that outro for the opening track because it starts very similarly to the first record: sort of ambient noises that are moody. But then having that end part in there of talking about Siddartha, joking around. It was really funny. We're also fun now! 

Aaron:  Five years is a long time. That's a full lifecycle for a lot of bands. Did you ever think, "maybe we won’t do this?”

Noah: I mean, it was always going to come out. The thing was we started recording in 2019. And we were chipping away at it the whole time. But you know, there were also chunks where we wouldn't touch it for six months. Covid happened in there. That was obviously a whole thing. And then too, dad bod started which ended up taking a lot of time right away. But it was really great. And that, you know, that opened a ton of doors in a different way. 

Aaron: How did you know when it was finished? I mean, five years you're working on something. What makes you stop and think today is the day?

Noah: We didn't really. It was still remaining kind of open-ended until we got asked to play a show. 

Aaron: So you guys got bullied into releasing an album!? 

Noah: Not bullied!

Aaron: Incentivized is a better word. 

Noah: We got incentivized. So this guy, you know him, Wyatt Moran? He was going on tour and he had a date in Minneapolis. He hit me up — he's been a big fan of Alexander Natalie. He hit me up and it was really nice. He said, "Hey, I'm coming to town. I know you haven't really been doing [shows]. I want you to play the show just because I literally want to hear you [play]. I don't know if it'd be just you or if you've got a band or what. Anyway, I just want you on it."

Which I was super, super touched by and grateful for. At the time we technically didn’t have a drummer. I was like, “Well, we got to find somebody to play drums because I want to do a full band.” I don't remember how far out from the show it was when we got asked, maybe a month or two? It wasn't super long. I hit everybody up and I asked, “do you guys want to do this?” And everybody was like, "fuck yeah!"

Then we were saying, "Let's try to get the album done in conjunction with it." We made a final push on that because we wanted the whole album to come out on Friday, which was April 26th. We just got it done. Wilson kicked it into gear, pulled those long hours and made it all happen.

And, I couldn't be happier with [the album]. I'm sure everyone had their moments over the like five years where they were thinking, "it would be pretty sweet if this was out." But it came together in a way. At no point before now would it have been this and I feel like this is what it should have been. 

Aaron:  It's a good end point for it. 

Noah: There was stuff too where like we couldn't get the version of Nosh that's on this album to work. We kept trying all these different ways and we didn't get it fixed. We almost just cut it from the album. We were able to get it to work like four days before we uploaded it to streaming and stuff. So a lot of it did come down to the wire. Or self-imposed wire. 

Aaron: Yeah. Something I love about Siddhartha is that it's a portmanteau in Sanskrit. It's two words that mean "what was search for" and "achieved." It's like you achieved what you were searching for, in a way. You know, you have this achievement. This incredible albums of five years, but in the five years of searching before, what do you think you found? 

Noah: I talk about on the album itself. I found peace and actual love, you know? I found, my partner, now Fiancé, Bella in 2019, around when we had started the album, recording it and stuff. And now we're getting married in less than three months. That was huge. I don't know, having real love goes a long way. Like being like actually loved and understood in a way. She really showed me how to calm down, how to just sit, and relax, actually. Not just constantly grind or turn yourself inside out.

Like I said about the first album, I wasn't really doing good. And when I dropped out of school, I wanted to do music but I was also really needed to make a commitment to get my head right. I was trying to get my emotional status sorted out. It was also a long journey of getting on meds and finding a therapist I liked, so there was a lot of that.

Something happens naturally in that period of life. Some friends drift away, some come in, everything gets solidified as your core circle. I feel that I came into a place where I had this healthy and truly supportive network that I didn't have before necessarily. I had components of it before, but not all of it.

Aaron: I mean it makes sense. Community is such a heavy theme throughout this project. And I especially loved and gravitated towards that line in Tennessee, where it talks standing in the creek and wondering if it's God or community. Who and what our community to you?

Noah: That was Sam asked me that when we were on a mission trip in Tennessee. 99.99% of everything in my work is actual tangible things that happened. But we were on a mission trip, which we started going on those mostly because we could go see places. But we were there and we were staying on this camp. Like a college summer camp that needed renovations. There was a moment. You know, you have these little church service-y things every day.

Aaron: So did you feel God in that moment? Was that like the first time y’all felt something that could be holiness? 

Noah: There was one of them that happened at night, on a creek bed. And there was... there was some energy happening. And Sam, asked me, "was that... God or what?" because he felt it too. I don't know if I said it at the time, but I kind of thought about it later, like it could've been just a shared, communal thing. 

Aaron: Is there a difference at the end of the day? 

Noah: I mean? Not really. I don't know, I love people and I love being together and I love having my people around.  I don't know about the big guy upstairs, but stuff comes together in a way. Things piece themselves out. But then, you know, sometimes you go well, that also could be luck. 

I don't know what's going to happen. I mean, nobody knows. Like I don't know what's going to happen when I die. It could be nothing. So if this is the only trip around with God. Well, I should probably just be good and have fun and try to have a good time. 

Aaron: Yeah, I get it. Don't let it be a compass or a crutch.

Noah: No exactly, you should do the stuff you want to do. It's why you're here. 

Aaron: Where do you think the album three goes?

Noah: Do you mean, like, thematically? 

Aaron: Thematically? Sonically? 

Noah: I don't even know right now. 

Aaron: Is it so hard to imagine something past this? Because this album is so new and fresh for you? 

Noah: No, I've started, but I didn't write anything for a long time because when you write new stuff, you start to imagine it coming out. Then I was thinking, "well, I can't, I'm not putting anything new on this album. I can't leapfrog this before it's out," but I've started writing some stuff now again. And I was talking to Bella, my fiancé, the other day about how people would always say that time just goes faster and faster. Time just keeps ticking. And then, all of a sudden, the years are shorter. I'm like, "nah whatever that's not going to happen to me." And then that just… kinda happened. And I was like, "Oh shit! That sucks!"

Aaron: But you're young, you're still young!

Noah: Yeah, exactly! But, it's only going to get faster! That sucks that you guys were all right about it! So I mean, that thematically, at least in this exact second, that's what I'm churning over. Thinkin' bout time. I'm not thinking about, I don't know, I'm not thinking about God so much. You know, when I was writing a lot of the first album, a lot of the adults and parents in my life, were all turning 50. Now they're all turning 60. Time ticks! That's where my head's at. But really the focus is, right now, it's on the Dad Bod album. Which, I think it was really hard having both of those [bands] be in the album-writing process at the same time. Whereas, now I think we've been able to reach a point where they can step over one another. As one of them is in the show and promoting period of the record, the other one can be writing and yeah, stuff flows together. But I don't know. Album three is far out. We've only played one show since we've been back. Yeah, I have to figure out release show and stuff, but it's weird being back in the landscape. I didn't have to promote music for five years. I didn't have to try to book shows for five years. 

Aaron: How do you think the scene has shifted over these last five years? 

Noah: I don't know if the scene has really changed. It's more that, not to just talk about social media, it's just that it's harder and harder to get [publicity]. You posted about the album in one of the most touching ways of anybody. But you recognize whole on that they want you to constantly being saying shit. They want you to, like, always be posting and reminding and there is an advantage to that because you're always on the forefront of people's mind, but that can also get annoying. But I think for me I'm like, “Well, shit, man, I already said all the stuff.” I spent five years putting together the thing to say the stuff.

Aaron: Yeah, isn't that it? I think we're certainly getting to a weird inflection point with music where we're not letting people be artists, we're making them be social media managers. And I think that is detrimental in a lot of ways. One being you have to have a sort of image and almost a persona. I think that hurts a lot of people that maybe don't want to exist in an online space that accessible, right? Yeah. It's like suddenly everybody has to have this level of reachability that previously only really famous people had. 

Noah: Well, and too, there's an element of when I was younger, I would sort of revel in saying, "I'm an open book. Everybody can know everything about me." And as time goes on, I've definitely become more and more private. I don't need people to know everything about me. I'm trying to get offline, like real, real in-person, like communities. But it's hard. It would be great to promote stuff off of social media. But I don't know, do people go outside and look at posters? I don't know anymore. Because I don't really go outside and see posters. 

Aaron: That's so funny. I just took a picture of a printmaking class when I was buying film yesterday. I think that's the first time I engaged with a poster in years. And maybe that's just getting older and being like, "this is sick."

Noah: That is sick though!

Aaron: I think so many people are realizing that there's so much more out there, right? There are so many more ways to connect to community in a real, tangible way vs. social media, which I think is always going to have this element of fraudulence to it because it's a presentation. 

Noah: And people talk about it as a means of connection. Like when Facebook first came around, everybody was saying, "Oh my God, this guy I knew from high school who I haven't talked to in 45 years, I can talk to Brad from Saint Cloud now, holy shit." And it's like, “oh, that's great.”

But, I get it, it is great for maintaining relationships. I talked to you when you moved to New York. And my friend Andy, he moved to Switzerland and that was how we’ve stayed in contact.

Aaron: It's nice for keeping people in your stratosphere, that's a really beautiful thing. 

Noah: That's what will be nice about posts, if someone posts that they did something cool or they made something. 

Aaron: Yeah, like you guys getting engaged, I was fucking stoked!

Noah: Yeah, it's stuff like that where it's fun but ultimately, I would rather just see everybody at my house. 

Aaron: Absolutely. Nature is a big part of this album, too. It's very much at the forefront. Do you have any favorite hideaways or creeks or places that you like to go to?

Noah: My Dad started taking me to the Boundary Waters when I was eight. And I'm about to be 28. I've gone almost every year. I've missed a couple for various reasons, but I've been going up there once a year for 20 years time. And that's the fucking best. Having that once a year time where you don't have a phone. You don't have shit. You just got whatever you got and a couple other people that are hanging out at the campsite. 

You can go off in your little corner and not talk to anybody for four hours and then wander back into camp. So I mean, the Boundary Waters is one of my favorite places on Earth. And when I was growing up in Redwing, they got bluffs down there and creeks and shit so I was kind of always hanging out outside. Lately, I've been really getting more into outside stuff in Saint Paul. I live fairly close to Crosby Farms, so we go to walk our dog there a lot. And I've been going to the Minnehaha Dog Park a lot. Hidden Falls where we are now. I love getting up North to be by Lake Superior.

Aaron: Maybe we'll have to figure out Alexander Natalie playing on a floating dock this summer. A little acoustic show somewhere.

Noah: See, that would be sick.