Christian Sparacio On Upcoming Single 'Long Distance Lover'
New Jersey based indie-folk singer-songwriter, Christian Sparacio, takes the time to thread memories and stories of love and life together to create music that everyone can relate to and enjoy. He’s been compare to similar folk artists such as Hozier, Mt. Joy, Young the Giant, and many others.
Christian took some time out of his Italy vacation to chat about his new singles and his journey in music so far.
So you just released a new song, ‘Daisy Wildflower’, and you’re about to release a new one tomorrow called, ‘Long Distance Lover’. You’ve described them as sisters, why’s that?
Christian: I think music in general, at least for me, is a diary entry; and a lot of what I’ve dealt with over the course of the past few years are traditional first world problems of being in love and heartbreak. So I think that some of the woes of those heartbreaks, and the ebbs and flows of love in general, are the different versions of it.
That being said, ‘Daisy Wildflower’ is about when you’re a year out from a breakup, and you’re ready to be in love again; but you don’t have any real prospects so you’re falling in love with everyone, like the grocery store checkout girl. Then you have the painful love, of loving someone who is really far away, which is what ‘Long Distance Lover’ is about. So, I call these two songs relatives because they’re two different versions of love, and the EP that I’m about to put out is all just different versions and types of love and they live within that family.
You have a live album called “Misery Loves Company”. Recording live takes is difficult, what was that recording process like and did you learn anything that you didn’t expect to?
Christian: I love playing live, it’s my favorite thing to do ever. What I really loved about the live sessions was that it really just allowed me to be myself, but I think what it really taught me is that I need to drink water and take care of myself. You can’t be going into these shows and live sessions without warming up your voice and just getting yourself in that mindset for performing live, and more than that I think it really just made me grow up and prioritize behaving like a professional and taking care of myself and my voice. So that was the first thing I learned. The second thing I learned was, in order to make the live session convincing, you need to return to the original place you were in when you wrote the song. Then you can sing it in a way where you’re opening that part of your soul, that passage way, and reliving the original emotions you felt.
You have such a strong and unique tone that fits your songs really well. What was the journey like finding your sound?
Chrisitan: Oh this is like my favorite question! So I have no vocal training at all, and I think that served me well because, I swore myself to secrecy when it came to singing until I was like sixteen, because I was nervous about it. My dad sang ‘Fly Me to the Moon’ to my mom at their wedding, and me being the lover boy little kid that I was, I thought “I’m going to do that”, and I still believe that. Whenever I get married, I’m singing that to my future wife. So I grew up listening to Frank Sinatra and practiced singing along with him, and then you get into like the Eddie Vetters of the world like the Kings of Leon, you know, the people that are less traditionally smooth.
What I would do essentially is sit in the shower with the music blasting just loud enough so I could hear myself but loud enough so that nobody else can hear me, and just sing it over and over and over again until I was like ‘Okay, I can hit the notes Frank Sinatra is hitting, with ease. Okay, I can hit the notes that the Kings of Leon singer is singing, with ease.” and then over time, it morphed into like a mixture of a classic singer with a new sort of indie vibe to it.
Photo: Liam Frank
What advice do you have for other independent artists who want to get into performing live or make their own music?
Christian: I think the best advice is that you don't want to be the old guy when you're 80 or whatever, = sitting on a rocking chair, looking back with regret. So you just need to lean into what you love. Don't think about the listener, just create what you love. I also think, that everything is a collaboration. Always be thoughtful in your delivery and the intention. You have to always be intentional with what you're doing, but always speak your truth. With the live show , you have to think: What do you want the show to achieve? What do you want people to feel? You need to frame your live shows, based on that expectation of what you want them to achieve, because if you go in blind, you're just going to create some chaos. And hat's good to sometimes I don't know, it just depends on your vibe.
What are you most excited for in your future as an artist?
Christian: I’m excited to continue to meet people that are coming to my shows, that aren’t there just because they’re my friends. Whenever I get DMs from people and they’re like ‘I love your music!’ and they ask me questions. That’s my favorite feeling in the world, to know that my music impacted them in some way. My favorite thing is connecting with people, on a personal level, with anyone. It’s really that, just meeting people who resonated with my music in some way and getting the chance to talk to them.
Christian’s EP is almost done, as he’s now just doing final mixes and figuring out a name, but when he does announce it and release it, you can find it on his Instagram and Spotify.