Noam Weinstein

Noam Weinstein grew up in Cambridge, Massachusetts[3][4] and began playing guitar as a child and performing at local clubs during high school.[5][6] In 1999 he moved to New York City and joined the Greenwich Village songwriting community led by Jack Hardy.[7] From 2001-2012 he released six albums in the US[8] (five studio projects and a live album recorded at The Living Room in New York[9]); a seventh, the compilation Sixteen Skies, was distributed in Europe.[10] In 2013 he moved back to the Boston area,[11] and in 2014 he released Bottlefed, a self-produced project featuring a number of his earlier collaborators. (According to eNoam, its title refers to songs about "the innocent, the infantile, and the imitated.")[12]

On February 26, 2020, Weinstein released his latest album, 42 1/2, featuring a collection of fourteen new songs "inspired by that magical time when both the wild innocence of a 42-year-old and the sober wisdom of a 43-year-old are just out of reach."[13]

His previous project, 2016's On Waves, consisted of "fifteen songs about cycles, storms, mystery channels, and the beats beyond."[14] The Daily Vault gave the album an A, saying it was "heart-wrenching," "dazzling with its musical audacity," and "genuinely moving,"[15] while Popdose wrote that it was "terrific"[16] and No Depression said it contained "an ocean of emotions in fifteen songs" and was "catchy," "heartfelt," "hilarious," and "beautiful." The day after its release, March 1, 2016, Rolling Stone Germany picked it as its album of the week, describing it as "beautiful," "perfect pop songs" reminiscent of Elvis Costello, Randy Newman, and John Lennon.[17] Elmore Magazine premiered the album's first official video, created by artist Shawn Feeney for the opening track, "Last Reincarnation."[18] On October 18, 2016, the project was nominated for Album of the Year in the Independent Music Awards.[19]

Although not as well known as many of his collaborators,[20] Weinstein has received critical acclaim in publications like Performing Songwriter,[21] The New Yorker,[22] and The Boston Globe,[3] and airplay on prominent independent radio stations such as WFUV, WXPN, and WERS.[23] In addition, his song "I Can Hurt People" was featured on the Showtime series Weeds,[24] and several others have been recorded by indie artists such as Mieka Pauley, Greta Gertler, Mark Whitaker, Jess Tardy, and Lin McEwan. He is also a three-time finalist in the USA Songwriting Competition.[25]