Noah Pacheco, an Ottawa-raised singer/songwriter and Carleton alumnus, recently released his third album on Jan. 24. Titled The Calendar Project, this album is the result of Pacheco’s 2021 New Year’s resolution: to write and record a song every month of the year.
Pacheco graduated from Carleton in 2019 with a degree in aerospace engineering. Throughout his degree, he kept up with his musical hobby by getting involved with the Carleton Engineering Musical.
Pacheco also began testing the waters with songwriting while at Carleton, releasing his first album, Ever, in 2019.
After graduating, Pacheco strayed away from engineering, took an unrelated job with the federal government, and began to take his passion for music more seriously.
The Charlatan (TC): What is The Calendar Project and where did you get the idea for it?
Noah Pacheco (NP): The Calendar Project [was] a bit of an experiment on my end. It was [part of] a New Year’s resolution [to record] the development of my songwriting and my growth amid the pandemic, over the course of 2021. I wrote 12 songs, each confined to the space of one month. The first song on the album was written the first week of January, recorded the second week of January and finalized the last two weeks. Then, I did it again for the next month.
TC: How did that resolution develop? You mentioned the pandemic, was it a factor?
NP: Back when I released [my] Elixir album, it was in February of 2020. I held a show to commemorate its release and it was a lot of fun. And then the pandemic happened a month later. I really, really wanted to do more shows, but I just couldn’t. I was hoping that maybe in 2021 it would be cleared up and I [could] get back out there. Lo and behold, 2021 came around and coffeehouses [were] still kind of closed down. So, I did the next best thing. I knew I wanted to do music that year, so I said let’s just write a song per month.
TC: How does this album differ from your previous two?
NP: I used to write a lot about my relationships with significant others. Breakup songs were a big thing for me back then, but I like to think that I’ve gotten out of that genre and developed songs about things that aren’t specifically related to love. With my previous albums, I tried to reach for a certain sound that wasn’t entirely genuine or not as genuine as it feels to me now. I think the songs on this album are more genuine to my everyday life. It’s definitely a lot closer to me and it’s not something that I really shared with my previous albums. I didn’t delve as deep into the emotional vault.
TC: Does that scare you at all, releasing those deeper, more personal emotions into the world for the first time?
NP: Absolutely. It terrifies me to no end. If I wasn’t amidst the pandemic — if these were normal circumstances and we were back in the world — I would definitely be a lot more nervous. But I have the sense that I’m not going to be able to perform these songs live, so I don’t have as much stage fear presenting them. I don’t have to see people’s faces when they hear me singing.
TC: Where do you want to go from here, after the album is out?
NP: I have big plans for this year. I have a few songs and other projects that I’ve been working on, but I think after the release of The Calendar Project, I’m going to take a month’s break and not have any deadlines on my plate.
The Calendar Project can be found on Pacheco’s Spotify and all other major streaming platforms.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Featured image by Spencer Colby.
