Singer-songwriter, musician, producer and composer Neacal, the emerging solo chamber pop project of a musician based in Belgrade, Serbia, has unveiled his debut single ‘The Bell’ on July 19th, 2024 via Neacal Music. He started his artistic career as a founder of one of the most known instrumental progressive/post-rock bands from Eastern Europe, boasting nearly 5 million streams across platforms and tours across Europe and Asia, along with writing original soundtracks for a few video games. The track was written, produced and mixed by Neacal, with co-mixing by Ivan Lubianyi and mastering by the legendary Ian Shepherd (Deep Purple, New Order, King Crimson).
WATCH: Neacal – ‘The Bell’
LISTEN: Neacal – ‘The Bell’
Stream/ Download: Neacal – ‘The Bell’
As a kid, Neacal passed the examinations for a local music school for his pitch hearing and began learning the violin, a journey that spanned 11 years. Pivoting to the electric guitar during university, he began composing his own music. This transition marked the genesis of his career as a composer, the path he’s been walking for over 16 years, most of which he spent specialising in instrumental music. Neacal redefined his sound, crafting orchestral pop songs as a means to navigate through trauma and reinvent his musical language. Through resilience and adaptation, his story is a testament to the enduring power of creativity amidst adversity.
Influenced by the brooding orchestral pop of Woodkid, Agnes Obel, Owen Pallett, Neacal’s music is sure to be enjoyed by fans of the cinematic sounds of The Irrepressibles, Cinematic Orchestra and Ólafur Arnalds.
Dancing piano motifs create movement and prepare for a cascading array of delightful woodwind melodies. Contrasted by a rich and velvety voice motioning us towards a bigger picture, the song picks up pace with a syncopated snare juxtaposed with pulsating drums and swelling strings, building to a full-bodied ending that leaves the listener grasping for more.
Neacal shared: “’The Bell’ is a song of a then suppressed part of myself that came to recognise its own power. A fraction of me which I buried deep down and hadn’t been in contact with since the beginning of my cognition was slowly getting stronger throughout the period when this album was created… and the “prison” holding this inmate started to slowly crumble. In [‘The Bell’], the prisoner explores the inevitable escape, and it realises its agency—it knows that the change that is to come will take place not just when the barrier is weak enough, but when the prisoner will apply the pressure as well, leading on the charge with other demons kept locked at the time.”
