alex nelson

"How can someone with such serious and wonderful songs be so funny and charming at his shows?" - Art Mouth

Talented singer-songwriter Alex Nelson seemed deeply connected to that place where the songs come from - Metromix - Alyson Gold

Nelson crafts lo-fi acoustic numbers infused with keyboards and topped with emotional and sincere lyricism - Erica Landau / New Times

Nelson specializes in hushed tales of heartbreak run, live, through a byzantine setup of knobs and buttons. It captures the essence of both Dashboard Confessional and, say, the Postal Service, and it works -- really works. - Miami New Times

Fans of Radiohead, Pixies, Bob Mould, and the Handsome Furs now have a new singer/songwriter to add to their list of favorites: Alex Nelson. Describing himself as being a member of the "Alternapop" genre, his songs are as alternative as they are pop, which has him sitting comfortably in a spot where his commercial success is not far away but his integrity is guaranteed to stay intact. Many of his songs sound like they belong on movie soundtracks and his catalog is filled with enough quality material that listeners can pick their own personal favorite song, rather than wait for the obvious hit like an overtly pop artist would have. Be on the lookout for his CD, "Everything You Wanted to Say, But Didn't" which follows hist debut EP, "How did we end up here?" recorded under his moniker as an electric artist - "Frenjen." Beyond the facts and credits, what makes Alex Nelson so special? Well, in addition to his obvious talent as a musician, Alex's live shows are very entertaining. Alex not only grabs you with his music, but is able to capture the audiences attention with humor that gets them laughing and encourages dialogue that gets the audience participating in the show. Go see him live and chuckle your stress away with his funny stories and jokes between songs! - We Merge Magazine

"Alex Nelson isn't just a singer/songwriter, he's a personality. Deeply personal songs delivered with heart on sleeve and sprinkled with health doses of skepticism and wit are the order of the day..." - Wildy's World

We all have thoughts and bits of conversation and ideas that swirl around in our heads, and often they want to become something, maybe a song or a painting or a sculpture. But they can't, really, until they're done swirling and are ready to settle down and come to fruition. Sometimes we try to rush these things by putting pen to paper or paint to canvas too soon, only to find that the thoughts need to go back inside and blow around awhile longer. But sometimes, when the stars are lined up just right, those thoughts come tumbling out to create a song, story or painting that depicts exactly what we're feeling.

Fort Lauderdale singer-songwriter Alex Nelson says that "She Said," a song from his forthcoming CD Everything You Wanted to Say But Didn't, is one of those songs that expresses exactly how he felt when he wrote it. It's also one of his favorite tunes on the CD, mostly because of Melissa Vazquez's backing vocals, he says.

And now he's made a video.

Nelson didn't set out to do anything elaborate. "No big storyline or complex plot," he explains. "I didn't want to have a bunch of people around, which I ended up having anyway. ... My idea was ... someone walking out, sitting on a curb and replaying a conversation about someone who just broke with him, because that's what we do sometimes. We escape into ourselves. Go somewhere and just sit and think. Seemed easy enough. One camera, one shot. Bang.

He wanted to approach it differently than the first video he made for the the song "Relaxing in Public."

"I wanted a more human element and I wanted to do it with live video rather than animation," he says. "I was tossing around the idea of filming myself and throwing the words around the live action. One thing I really liked about the RIP video was that the words were there. Because a lot of times when I listen to a song I want to know the words and I like having them on the screen to read. I'm one of those people that like to watch movies with closed captioning. So I had the idea... live action with words. ... But I didn't know what to do.

"Then one day while driving by my drummer Steve Monell's house I came across a furniture store that had a nice big flat white wall and I said, 'That's it.' ... Needless to say, this location wasn't exactly the best neighborhood. It was super hot, the store was open and there were several shops to my right where people were yelling back and forth to each other. My biggest concern was that someone from the store would come out and say something during the middle of filming and ask us to leave. I was about 10 feet from the door. People were coming in and out of the store, looking over. In the end, I was also very happy no one parked in the parking spaces between me and the camera. A couple of times I thought people were going to walk into the shot, but once they saw the camera they went around (minus the one car). I felt bad not acknowledging those people, but I was keeping to the idea that I was alone there with my thoughts."

Despite the challenges of video making, Nelson wants to push on, and make one for every song on his new CD, which will be released Aug. 21.

Nelson has a slew of shows coming up including one on Saturday with Jeff Durham, Jarad Weber and Chris Monteleone at The Bull Bar in Delray Beach, and another on July 25 at Radio-Active Records in Fort Lauderdale. Check Nelson's site for more dates and to listen to his songs. - Metromix