HUDSON, NEW HAMPSHIRE – Neil D Santos’s new EP “Found Art” combines innovative & catchy guitar parts with instrumental hip-hop backing tracks to create an enjoyable listening experience for musicians and non-musicians alike.
It makes sense that multimedia artist and Berklee College of Music alumni Neil Santos would combine his love for the visual arts and music when creating his second album. “I’ve been a passionate creator of visual art long before I ever dreamed of picking up the guitar. There is a certain spirit of sincerity and openness to push for new ideas that artists bring to their art, which is different from how musicians approach creating. I view my writing and guitar playing through this artistic filter, in fact, I often visualize the sounds and phrases that I’m creating as shapes and colors in my mind.”
The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines found art as, “*Art consisting of found objects, found poems, or other found materials, often modified or manipulated by the artist.*”. Neil has applied this artistic sensibility to all aspects of his new EP, from the music to the album’s cover art which shows a guitarist created from images of iconic guitars representing Neil’s many guitar influences.
“I’ve always loved the idea of found art. So when I decided to make my first instrumental guitar album, I thought it would be an interesting idea to scour the internet to find some royalty-free backing tracks, that were available for anyone to find and create with, and use those as the basis for all of the tracks. I would allow myself to add only one guitar part, and perform minimal rearranging to the original track to create an entirely new song.”
Collecting a diverse playlist of hip-hop backing tracks created by different producers and DJs gives Neil an interesting canvas to “paint” his guitar lines on. These seven songs really showcase a collection of guitar styles and techniques that combine to create Neil’s own unique guitar voice reminiscent of Joe Satriani or Jeff Beck.
“I chose instrumental hip-hop backing tracks mostly because I felt that so many guitar albums are based on hard rock or the blues, and I wanted to do something different that would advance the landscape of the instrument and be more inviting to people that might not normally listen to instrumental guitar music.”
One of the singles from this EP, “Sound the Alarm”, came in as a runner-up in the Great American Songwriting Contest in the instrumental music category in 2020.
Neil is scheduled to play this year at Plumfest 2021 the day following Found Art’s release date. Watch for more dates coming soon!
For more information, promo requests, or to arrange an interview, contact Neil D Santos at neil@clearlineinteractive.com, 603.759.0422, or [https://neildsantos.com/](https://neildsantos.com/).
Home – Neil D Santos
Bare Bones WordPress Install
###