Meet New Richard
Welcome! Thanks for stopping by. I'm New Richard from Northern California. I grew up near San Francisco, once lived in the Frankfurt Germany region for ten years, and have since been living near Sacramento California. I have a family, and I'm probably older than you though maybe not. I'm into basketball, travel, reading (Agatha Christie still a favorite), songwriting, other writing, and speaking foreign languages. Sometimes I get out of the house to participate in the local music scene. I don't know why I write songs, except that my creativity finds an outlet in chords, melodies, and lyrics.
To contact me, message me on Instagram @newrealrichard.
Adult Indie for the 2020s
Though I've been writing songs off and on for decades, it wasn't until 2022 that I decided to record my debut album "The Age of Your Soul", containing songs written in recent months and years. And now my second album "Wandermind" is out.
My artist name "New Richard" is both a wordplay on my given name, and is forward-looking, as opposed to the "old" Richard who didn't put out any music earlier and wished he had.
As with so many other artists, my genre is hard to pinpoint. The best I can manage is "adult indie", since it's not like most other indie, it's not like defunct "adult contemporary", but it's closer to both than to what is generally heard in today's music scene. I suppose my songs consist of the thoughts and noises lurking in the recesses of my brain when it's not being bombarded by the outer world. I refer to the sound on my new album as "retro indie".
I have chosen the path of writing chord-based music using traditional rock/pop instrumentation and song structures. The outcome is my own, subject to the quirks of my creativity as well as the limits of my ability. My themes are introspective, sentimental, and contemplative, with an element of feeling like an outsider.
Though I have paid some homage to my musical influences of decades past, the audience I seek is living in and for the 2020s and beyond. These songs hopefully will connect as you listen at home, in your car, or on a walk. My intent is to share personal songs with you in personal spaces.
Although I do occasionally perform my songs live as a solo act, I am not trying to make a go of being a performing artist. My fan base will necessarily remain mostly online.