Spotlight: Carter Vail on Latest Single “Nancy Again” & Creating Soundtracks to Life
LIVING BY IT WITH EVERY SONG HE MAKES — Carter Vail knows what a good song is. “Nancy Again,” his latest single, out today, is no exception to the rule. “I think that if a song feels like the beginning of a movie, then it's the ultimate song, because it's like the beginning of a story,” the artist shares. “And it makes you want to feel whatever comes next.”
“Nancy Again” feels just the same. It is a song for rolling the windows down during the summer; one that feels like smiling, laughing, and sunlight. It is the perfect hazy indie-rock anthem and soundtrack to your life, something Vail aims to create with every song he puts out.
The 25-year-old currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee with his band, who together have released songs that have racked up millions of listens such as “Melatonin,” and “Silent Movies.” The band met at the University of Miami and consists of drummer Garrett Fracol, keyboardist Andre Bernier, and bassist Reed Gainesm. Vail studied musical engineering at university, which would later inspire the founding of his band’s recording studio, Happy Camper Studios, in Nashville, where “Nancy Again” was produced.
Vail wrote his latest single while on a family trip in Maine. “It was terrible. A really bad vacation,” Vail says, sat in his room in Nashville. “It was raining all the time and my brother got lost in a kayak — bit of a nightmare. But I wrote the song because we had so much free time not being able to go outside.”
Vail explains that the song was partially inspired by Canadian singer-songwriter Andy Shauf. He also describes how he knew he wanted Nancy to be his protagonist: “I just don't meet many people named Nancy now.”
But in addition to these inspirations, the story itself is loosely based on Vail’s relationships. “I don't tend to write too much from specific personal experience because I just don't find it as exciting,” he shares. “So I tend to just take emotions from my day-to-day life and convert them into whatever that feels like in a song.”
Vail then shared the song with his bandmates, which they consequently mixed in the studio. “I really liked it because there's a lot of weird sonic things going on,” Vail describes. “Like I tracked I think seven or eight banjos on it and there's a bunch of strings.”
While the song itself is classic indie-rock, there is a unique twist that comes from the brass instruments. “It has some hints of being more [of an] orchestra … there's a bunch of brass instruments in it, and I think that combination is fun.”
Vail’s indie-rock, main-character-making music style is reflective of the same energy the artist exudes. With bleached hair that doesn’t detract from his brilliant smile, Vail is friendly and energetic, a feel-good character for his feel-good music. With one listen to “Nancy Again,” you will feel exactly that. It is a nostalgic song with hazy, catchy beats and distorted guitars that can’t help but make you want to sway along with the rhythm, or roll the windows down and stick your hands out to feel the breeze.
But what’s next for Vail is a little different from what he has done so far. Vail is currently working on an EP to be released later this year that will have four or five songs, one of which is “Nancy Again,” but the rest will be a contrast to the single’s vibe. “A lot of the other stuff is a bit sadder, because a lot of it's about me leaving Nashville,” Vail explains.
With plans to move to LA in a few months, Vail shares the bittersweet emotions he has been feeling. “I feel like if I wasn't super sad to be leaving Nashville, then this would have been a bad experience — but this has been such a wonderful experience,” he says. “But I'm also so excited to be in LA, because there's so much going on out there.”
There is a lot happening for Vail in 2022, and it seems like “Nancy Again” is just the beginning.
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