Alnev Talks Debut EP Vincent
Alnev, real name Ari Rabin, is a singer/songwriter/musician originally from Coral Springs, Florida. He has been releasing songs since 2019 and writing since he was 15. At 22, Alnev is now releasing his debut EP, Vincent.
Sarah Brown: How did you get into writing and making music?
Alnev: I always wrote short stories and poetry in elementary school. I loved English class. I was good at it, I knew I was good at it, and my teachers always loved my stories and encouraged me to write more. When I was little, I would write little jingles on flashcards. There was something about it, like being able to say you “wrote a song” is so cool as a little kid. In ninth grade, I started writing a lot more poetry. It was my DARK poetry moment. Most of my poetry was focused on how “everything sucks”. I was 15!
SB: I feel like everyone has a phase like that.
Alnev: The poetry’s insane. I still have some of it. Then one day I decided I wanted to write a song, so I wrote an entire song. I didn’t know how to play guitar or piano, but I had a friend who knew how to play the keyboard better than me. So he played while I sang and I realized, wow, this is a song.
That was probably the first Alnev song, even though it was before Alnev was even a thought in my brain. The name didn't exist yet; I was just Ari. I wasn’t considering artistry as a career or anything. It was just oh, it’s a song.
The way I transitioned to releasing music was in 10th grade, I went to a school in Pennsylvania called Wilkes. It's a boarding school for Jewish kids who don't fit into mainstream Orthodox schools. All my friends went to mainstream schools and I went to this school for the “different kids”. There were a lot of creatives there, a lot of incredible kids. Going to that school was the best thing I ever did.
I started writing a lot more when I was there and people began hearing about it. I was so scared to play in front of other people. But I'd play a little bit, they would hear, and give me feedback on it. So I started writing more. I never thought about it as a career, even when I put out my first song in 2019.
That song was called “Give Love.” I have a weird relationship with it. It's the first thing I ever made. It's beautiful and awesome, but I also think it could have been better. But that’s usually how it goes.
The way it all started with releasing music was when my friend saw me play at a little show I did for my school. That was when I chose the name Alnev. I decided today’s the day and put Alnev on the posters for the show. It was a dollar a ticket. All my friends came and it was awesome. All the money went to food; I bought snacks and literally made some brownies myself. And then there was me, just playing my songs. I wasn't good at the time, but I was getting better. I played my song “Give Love” and my friend Mizzi Israel, who’s an incredible producer, heard everyone singing along and later told me, "Yo, I'm producing this." So we produced it and it came out that summer. That's what started everything because that's when I was like this is it.
SB: Where does your artist name Alnev come from?
Alnev: Since I was 13 or 14, I would come up with stage names. I wasn't even writing music yet. I had a weird attachment to coming up with names, even song titles. I had a list of around 100 artist names for a stage name. Alnev was something I found on the internet. I was looking up translations for the word pseudonym and Alnev came up in Hungarian. I thought it sounded nice.
I put it down on my list of names and when I was about to do that show, I thought, okay, I have to decide on a name. I cut it down to four out of those hundred names. Out of those four, I chose Alnev. It's a pseudonym that means pseudonym. It's very meta, it's a little cute. I like it. Since I chose it, it's become a part of me. That's the name of that piece of my soul that makes music.
SB: Who are some of your musical inspirations?
Alnev: My biggest inspirations are Panic! at the Disco, Frank Sinatra, Lorde, Lauv, and Julia Michaels. There are a couple more, but those core five have inspired me a lot, and I'm obsessed with all of them.
Panic! at the Disco - the genres, the writing - I'm one of their biggest fans. I know everything, every song, all the unreleased ones. The writing, the genres, and Brendon’s voice is incredible.
Frank Sinatra; I love his voice, and I'm very inspired by it. Julia Michaels for her writing. Her lyrics are actually insane. Lorde's lyrics, style, fieryness, magic... it’s just so good. Lauv's production is so so good. There’s more, but those are my core inspirations.
SB: You've got a new project called Vincent. I'm curious about the title because it ties in with one of the tracks, "Van Gogh." Can you talk a bit about Vincent Van Gogh and why you chose his name for the title of your EP and one of your songs?
Alnev: This whole project has been in the works since 2020. September 2020 was when production started on "Van Gogh." Within a few months, I had already planned out the entire project. It's 2024, so it's been a long time. This whole time, I've had to keep it a secret. Well, I didn’t have to, but I’m just like that. I like the secretiveness, I like the surprise. I like it when it's serious and feels legit. So, I haven't spoken about it with more than three people in the last four years. Even announcing it, I was so scared. I thought, "Oh my god, I can't believe I'm going to say it out loud." And when you said the word Vincent, I was like, "Holy shit, how do you know?" I'm not used to people knowing what it's called.
The project's core is "Van Gogh," which is why it's titled Vincent. "Van Gogh" feels like a statement. It’s a song about myself and Van Gogh, the artist, connecting our lives and the struggle of being an artist. A lot of things are interesting to me about Van Gogh, like the fact that he died in a weird, mysterious way.
SB: There are conspiracy theories online. I looked this up and there’s a whole Reddit thread. People are saying maybe he didn’t die. I wasn’t getting too into it, but there are a lot of ideas out there.
Alnev: I should have looked into that stuff. I was just obsessed with the mystery around his death. The gun was close enough to his body, that it could have been him or someone else. I love that. I remember thinking about that when I was in the shower, and I went to my room and started writing. It was during COVID, we were locked down and I just started writing the song. I remember when I finished, I was like, what did I make? I was so proud of it. I posted a story saying "I just wrote a masterpiece." During COVID, I was going live the whole time because I had nothing else to do, and I started building up more of a following. I remember the moment when people started to realize that “Van Gogh” was good. I wanted everyone to understand how good it was. I was obsessed with it.
When we began producing it at the end of 2020, I was like This feels like a statement. It's such a statement that it should be the centerpiece of an album or project. The whole EP goes through my life. It's mostly chronological. But, it also feels like a story that could apply to Van Gogh. In "Van Gogh," I'm talking about his life. It was a tragic, fucked up life. He died and then he got famous. So in my life, I got the tragic part. I'm just trying to get the fame part, preferably before death.
SB: Consolation prize after the fact. So you’re after the fame?
Alnev: Absolutely. I want to spread my music to the whole world. I know fame has downsides, and I've thought about it. But fuck it, I think it's worth it. At the same time, I'll never know until I'm there. For me, the goal is to have a life that affects the universe, affects as many people as possible, and helps as many people as possible. Money is not as interesting to me as fame. Money is a way for me to get more things done. Fame is about people. You get to know more people and you get to do more things with other people. People are the most important part to me.
Going back a bit to the EP, the introduction and “Van Gogh” are one piece to me. They connect. The first one is kind of like a half-song and “Van Gogh” is the birth of an artist. “Die for Family,” is about my time at Wilkes with my friends. I'm not the most positive writer but it's somewhat positive. It's also a little dark. It's “I would die for family”. I have to have my dark texture in it. It’s a kid who leaves home, leaves a dark place, and enters this beautiful place. Then there’s “drugs” which is about an addictive friendship. So it goes wrong. In “R.I.P.” we go darker... There's a vampire, it's like what's going on here? It’s alternate-universe-type darkness. The EP ends with “even if you don't”, which is the first introduction to this new character. Known only as “her”. It's a beautiful song. I've kept this secret for so long. I'm so excited for it. It’s my favorite off the project.
The EP goes through a timeline and “Van Gogh” is the centerpiece of it. In some alternate universe, Van Gogh had a similar story. He started in a dark place, he found some love in some way, and he found his friends. And then it all got messed up, you know?
SB: I like that you acknowledge wanting fame. I feel like so many people pretend they don’t care about fame so it's refreshing to hear honesty.
Alnev: I’m open about it. I’m trying to manifest, so I have to talk about it. I don’t think fame is a bad thing to want. I don't have any nefarious plans, I'm not trying to ruin the world. So I feel like it's a good thing. Why not have famous people who want to do good? It doesn't seem like a bad thing.
There's also a Jewish part to it. There's no worldwide famous artist who wears a kippah. Matisyahu was for a minute, but he was also in a specific genre. Reggae is a little more niche. Being in a genre like alternative pop is much bigger and more accessible. It'd be cool to be a Jewish kid, wearing a kippah, and seeing someone on your screen who's wearing a kippah, making music that affects the world on a grand scale.
SB: I love that and can relate. When talking about creating music that stems from real feelings, where do you draw inspiration for your songs? Personal experiences, the world? Where do they come from?
Alnev: Almost all of my writing is about myself. My experiences or something I'm going through at the time. It usually stems from pain. Negative experiences are a huge influence on my writing. Positive writing is much rarer for me. I'm good at expressing negative emotion because I've experienced more of it. With positive emotion, I'm still trying to figure out how to experience more of that, but I have a few positive songs. I'd say it's like three categories.
One: songs about myself. Two: songs that are about concepts that could connect with me. But, it's more like storytelling. For example, “Van Gogh” is more of a concept, but I connect it with myself. It’s deep in both ways. “R.I.P.” is a song on the project that’s much more focused on the concept. Falling in love with a vampire and what that's like... the idea that toxic things are awesome and feel so cool, but they'll kill you. That dynamic in a relationship. And finding ways to write that through the lens of a vampire and a human falling in love. The last category is songs about other people. There have been a few times when I've written a song about something a friend's going through.
SB: In one of your songs, “drugs”, you wrote about a codependent unhealthy relationship. Do you ever get people asking if a song is about them?
Alnev: Every single song I’ve ever made and ever put out. There are always multiple people who are like “Hey is this about me? Is it about this person?” Everyone wants the tea. Luckily, for some reason with "drugs", the person it's about has not asked me directly if it's about them.
SB: Would you tell them if they asked?
Alnev: I don't know. I don't think I'd want to. But I think if they asked, I’d have a difficult time not giving in because my instinct is to share it with the people I write about. But I've also learned from experience and have had to remind myself that most people who aren't artists cannot understand what a song means. Songs are dramatic and deep and super intense. It's like a crazy mirror into someone’s soul. Someone who’s not an artist will hear it and be like, Oh my God, that's so much. People who aren't artists don’t get it. And even artists don't always. I've learned to keep the music to myself and hope no one finds out who it's about. Many of my close friends know who some of my music is about, but I try to keep it under wraps.
SB: Going into the songs on the EP, it's fascinating because you have a collection of tracks that dip into different styles and I’m curious about your production process. "Van Gogh" features an orchestral pop sound with these violins, while "Die for Family" goes in a different direction with a beat switch-up at the bridge that reminds me of 100 Gecs. “Drugs” is darker-toned and “R.I.P.” has a dramatic feel and a sound reminiscent of Panic! At The Disco. Despite the variety, the songs maintain a distinct identity that feels uniquely yours. How do you manage this balance of differentiation and cohesion in your music?
Alnev: With this project in particular, the goal from the start was to have differentiation. To have each song be its own little world and connect the worlds throughout the project. As my first project, I wanted to focus on track diversity and give a distinct experience with each song. The thing that keeps them cohesive is me. It's my writing and my voice. It’s recognizable.
In terms of production, style, and genre, I especially wanted to be all over the place. These few unreleased songs on the project go in different directions. “Die for Family” is a synth-pop, hyper-poppy, glitchy, weird song. “even if you don’t,” I can’t even name the genre. It’s super soft but gets super intense at the end. But they’re all different. It’s meant to be all over the place. So you can be like "damn he can do that and that and that."
SB: This has been an EP almost four years in the making. What changed that you’re now releasing this project? Does it finally feel ready?
Alnev: That’s so funny. It wasn’t like it was ready, now’s the time. I wish. If it was ready, whenever it was ready, would have been the time. The challenge with this whole project was being independent. I have no funding. I work with all my friends in our bedrooms. This entire project was made in three bedrooms. It’s literally bedroom pop. We don’t have access to any fancy equipment. We’re not having a million musicians come in. It’s low budget. “No budget” was the budget. When you don’t have a lot of money to spend, things take more time. You either pay with time or money. This process took a long time because of that. It was only finalized about three months ago. I spent the last three and half years just finishing everything. I would not have sat on it this long otherwise.
But that’s life. I believe in divine providence and things happen at the right time. Well, I'm trying to believe in that. It’s hard to.
I’ve learned a lot from this process though. I’ve learned what I want, I’ve learned how to understand production better, and how to better produce myself as well. It’s been good for me to learn through this process. The next things will go faster.
SB: Do you have a favorite on the EP?
Alnev: Probably "even if you don’t." I love all of them for different reasons, but "even if you don’t" feels so personal. It's way more vulnerable than the other songs. I wrote it from such a pure, sad place. Only four or five people have ever heard this song. I'm excited to let it go into the world and see what other people think of it. I hope people like it.
SB: You went to Australia and played some shows there recently. Do you have any plans for more shows?
Alnev: Yeah, I’m working on a New York show. Hopefully, in the next few months. The goal is to have an official Vincent show. A welcome to Vincent live experience in New York. Maybe in LA as well. We’ll have to see about that.
SB: Do you have any dream venues to play?
Alnev. Madison Square Garden. I’m a big MSG fan. I can't wait to play there. It’s beautiful. A smaller venue that I love as well is Bowery Ballroom. In my opinion, it’s the best venue in New York. That’s more in the near future but MSG is the long-term goal.
SB: What can people look forward to?
Alnev: The upcoming music after this project is so good. It’s next level. This is not the end. This is the beginning. This is the first Alnev project, but it’s the first. First means there’s more. I’m so excited for the next steps, and future projects.
SB: Awesome. Anything else you want to share?
Alnev: I want to shout out the two producers I worked with on this project. My friends Shlomo and Yosef. Shlomo Wolf is an incredible producer. We’ve spent an insane amount of hours together in the last four years, even more. Probably five, or six years. He’s a close confidante. He’s involved in all of my decisions and helps me through everything. Without him, this project would not exist. I can’t imagine where I would be or how things would look without him, and he produced “drugs,” “Van Gogh,” and “Die for Family.”
My other friend Yosef David is an incredible artist. Such a talented writer and a great producer, as well. If you haven’t heard his music, you must check it out. He’s an incredible artist and a good friend. He produced “R.I.P.” and “even if you don’t.” I’m excited for people to hear that Yosef and Shlomo did this. Much love should be sent their way. They deserve the world and I’m happy I got to do this with them.
