Noella Choi

Noella Choi Bio:

They are not all starving artists, you know. Even so, Noella Choi’s prolific success is rare for one releasing a debut album. In Hong Kong, she arranged material and created original compositions for over 200 sitcom episodes. This was after obtaining a degree in music theory and composition from her home in Canada. Also in Hong Kong, she composed songs for use in commercials. Multi-talented, she can currently be seen in commercials across Canada as she demonstrates the unfailing power of Excel Mints to attract the opposite sex.

Choi’s focus musically has moved from jingles to Restless, a full-length album clocking in at over forty minutes and sectioned into eleven tracks. Although ambitious, this departure was tempered through time as Choi labored for two years to create and produce her material.

Choi draws from contemporary influences and is playful in practicing her craft. A meticulous songwriter, she has as a hobby rearranged and reproduced many of the scores from one of her favorite TV shows, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Through many subtle nuances, this love of the independent creation of music can be heard and therefore extends the replay value of Restless. A typical track is wild in its variety of sound. At first listen, each song is harmonic, simple and clear. Only with many listens can a track be fully appreciated. Despite being “not the best lyricist” by her own admission, Choi’s words provide a powerful contrast to her music.

Songs of doubting, feeling insignificant, shattered dreams, and falling painfully into chasms. In another’s hands, the adolescent pain of every line could have amounted to an atmosphere akin to a funeral parlor. Yet Choi’s voice is cheerful and elegantly graces her compositions, thus lightening the weight of her thematic choices to the point at which this album would be difficult to honestly describe as dark. This feat alone is an impressive accomplishment, yet another facet of Choi’s debut gem.