ParcelsNoah Hill, for the first time, is currently navigating a musical career without his usual safety blanket: prominent electro-pop outfit Parcels, for whom he serves as bassist and vocalist.
“Putting out music on my own feels so weighty, it’s this new, crazy experience. I’m a bit scared and a little bit nervous, but super invested,” he explains over a Zoom call on the day that his first ever solo track, It’s All In My Head, is unleashed into the world. The feeling of releasing music, in this context, is at once familiar and different to him.
The track marks a total stylistic departure to the sound that Parcels has become beloved for. Whereas Parcels’ music is a groovy sonic successor to Daft Punk, Hill’s solo work is intimate and unplugged.
It’s All In My Head is devoid of all the distinctive instrumental features one would usually associate with a member of Parcels: there is no slick drumbeat, no syncopated bass-line, no funky guitar riff. Essentially, there is nowhere for Hill to hide: it is just him and a guitar.
Don't miss a beat with our FREE daily newsletter
“It’s definitely more vulnerable,” he admits, with a toss of his burnished surfer-length hair. Making music in a group allows for more safety and consensus, and often means that the stories being told are more collaborative.
“When it’s just me on my own, there are none of those protections. It’s taken a new level of courage, which I’m starting to realise as I’m doing it. I think I’ve been so intensely passionate about doing it that I haven’t actually stopped to consider what it was going to feel like.”
Naturally, there is an element of fear, but he is also extremely grateful for this new opportunity to express himself.
This divergence from Parcels allows him to lean into his musical upbringing, which was, apparently, far more acoustic and folky. “I think I even showed It’s All In My Head to the guys ages ago, but it just doesn’t really suit the music of the band.”
He first wrote the song when in the depths of a Christmas time depression a few years ago. He had what he describes as a “crazy health scare,” and had also just broken up with his partner at the time. “I was just in a weird place generally.” Hence the lyric, “It’s been a rough year.” The song chronicles his attempt to emerge from this mental spiral.
He mentions what he believes to be a new phenomenon, something he terms “health anxiety,” and describes an upsurge of people wearing whoop bracelets, obsessing over their health, zeroing in on the particulars of their consumption habits.
“And they overly restrict themselves to the point where the anxiety itself around this thing is worse than the actuality of participating in those potentially unhealthy parts of life,” he explains. “I got myself into a situation where I was doing that and just obsessing about my health.”
The song additionally functions as a reflection of his relationship with his sister at the time. “She had a pretty crazy time during COVID. She was stuck in Amsterdam and really struggling and I didn’t know how to help her or access her. Our relationship sort of broke down.”
The song was his way of telling her that he could understand what she was going through – and that he was struggling too. “It was a big reflection upon all of those things, and about trying to find some positivity or understanding to be able to push through this period.”
On the notion of health anxiety, he continues, “I do think there’s a balance to be made there in the way that we live our lives. Health is great. To be happy and healthy and to exercise and move your body, all of those things should be encouraged. But it so quickly tips over into this gamifying and obsession, this intense focus and anxiety. Because it comes from a place of needing to be perfect, and the fear of death generally.”
The instinct, he believes, stems from a desire for control. “I think that is what it is about. Because the world feels so out of control. Politically, the online spaces, and AI and stuff, you don’t have any control.”
Writing music helps him to cope with and understand jagged feelings such as these – usually. But sometimes, it can lead to overly fixating on the past, particularly when it comes to songs about relationships or break-ups.
“You’re getting over them, moving on, finding a new chapter in your life, but you just keep finding these songs that keep pulling you back and keep giving meaning to this relationship and emotionally holding you in that space,” he explains.
“Sometimes I’ve wondered if that’s a positive thing for me in my life. It sort of prolongs break-ups. Because you’re just obsessing and writing and sitting in all of those emotions.”
“I have thought, if I didn’t have to sing this song at gigs every night, or if I didn’t have to prepare a live set around this or make a whole album about this person, maybe I’d be over it by now.”
Tapping into these emotions is a necessary service to the audience, but, he adds, laughing, “It sort of sucks.”
There are indeed certain things about being a modern-day artist, which, in Hill’s words, suck, the current ubiquity of streaming platforms being one of them.
“I of course wish that I lived in a time that they didn’t exist,” he admits. “To be an artist back in the day would have been just a lot better, a lot more profitable.” He mentions friends of his, artists he knows, who made music in a time slightly before him, during the CD era of the early 2000s. “They’ve got so much cash, are living in these big houses.”
He snaps his fingers, throwing in a Get Smart reference: “And it’s like, missed it by that much. So that feels a little sad sometimes. But there’s also the positive side, which is that there’s more and more music.
“It’s created what seems to be this musical middle class. Before it was so label focused – you either got signed or you didn’t, you either got big or were nothing. Artists are getting found now who might otherwise not have been found. So it’s a mix.”
Hill is in the midst of gearing up for his first ever solo tour, with stops peppered through Australia, the US, the UK, and Europe.
“At first, you love it,” he says of constantly touring. “You’re so excited, you're eighteen, you think it’s the dream. And then you get to a point where you despise it so hard you think you want to quit. And now I’ve reached a level where I appreciate it again.”
It is, after all, all he knows. “I’ve lived this life for ten years now. My whole adult life has been constantly moving around. And I’m realising that that fluidity is a gift.”
That fluidity, it seems, has allowed him to find his way out of his own head.
Noah Hill’s It’s All In My Head is out now. Tickets to his upcoming Australian dates are on sale now.
Noah Hill – Live 2026 (Australian Dates)
Wednesday, July 22nd – Unholy Playhouse, Sydney, NSW
Friday, July 24th – Wesley Anne, Melbourne, VIC
This piece of content has been assisted by the Australian Government through Music Australia and Creative Australia, its arts funding and advisory body
