After the filmshoot (2002)

Dave Edwards solo cassette tracks, in Wellington NZ, 2002.

Listen

About

Meatwaters Festival, Wellington NZ, 2002

These solo recordings were originally released as interludes, between the acoustic ensemble pieces in the Loose Autumn Moans (2003) album. But they’re now re-presented separately as a standalone short album (with a different running order and some light remastering).

I wrote the words to the title track in a notebook during the wrap party for a short film I’d worked on – a surrealist description of the evening, based on deliberate mishearings of the conversations around me:

“Taking notes throughout the performance. Humans become worms, with a sameness that is frightening. Politics is bad: we knew this already, but now it’s confirmed. Collapse into laughter.

A cigarette chair from which comes a dictator; everyone in thrall to his conversation. A plastic wooden horse to capture the city – incongruous? Indeed. Expelled all the virtues? You to decide.”

I made the soundscape with electric guitar and a 4-track tape recorder.

The other tracks on the album expanded on this wordy fusion of postpunk singer/songwriter and free improvisation. Radio stations wouldn’t touch it with a bargepole.

‘Working Like a Fountain in the Slender Morning Chill’, live 2010 version

Background

In the early 2000s, I was living in Wellington (New Zealand’s capital, and my birthplace), looking for a way to follow up the almost-success of The Marion Flow (part 2).

But I was moving further away from conventional 3min song formats into the avant-garde.

Dave Edwards (far left) as an extra in Lord of the Rings

Although I lived not far from Courtenay Place I was more interested in the scene based around Newtown venue The Space (a precursor to the Pyramid Club), then in its baroque period.

I was an underemployed arts graduate, living in a scody flat doing casual work as a film extra (blink and you’ll miss me in Lord of the Rings) or builder’s labourer, and (trying &) failing to write a novel. Partly due to lack of money, I made my own entertainment.

Although the internet existed in early form, this was before social media – so instead of selfies, oversharing took a more oblique form, filtered through art.

In all, I was a noisy (as opposed to noise) guitar & spoken word footnote to the Wellington free jazz / avant garde music scene.

Tracklist

1.	After the Filmshoot (take 1) 03:25
2.	Interlude: the sociopolitical context 00:51
3.	Sleep/Grease 02:57
4.	Etude, for electric saxophone 03:16
5.	Working Like a Fountain in the Slender Morning Chill 05:11
6.	Interlude: les paul tapdance 01:36
7.	After the Filmshoot (take 2) 04:51
8.	WLAF reprise 03:32

Further listening

The tracks on After the Filmshoot were originally part of

Loose Autumn Moans:

Acoustic songs with a string section, recorded on all-analogue equipment, by Dave Edwards, with Sam Prebble, Mike Kingston, and Simon Sweetman (2003)

Continue reading →

Psi-solation

‘Solitude‘ appears on this compilation of 2020 lockdown sounds from around the world, curated by Campbell Kneale …

“Something about this global pandemic is inspiring people to create and/or curate art on a massive scale…. and this compilation, being offered for free/name-yr-price, is indeed M A S S I V E.” – Howard Stelzer

Psi-solation has 119 tracks, you can pay what you want, and it’s the 2020 album of the year by default!

Campbell and Dave also recorded a noise duo in 2018:

Dearest fellow music-hounds and shut-aways, CELEBRATE PSI PHENOMENON proudly presents…

‘PSI-SOLATION: A GLOBAL COMPILATION OF MUSIC MADE IN LOCKDOWN’
Continue reading “Psi-solation” →

Solitude

The first piece from the book Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856).

Recorded by John Collie’s great-great-grandson, during pandemic lockdown, March 2020.

‘SOLITUDE’

by John Collie, 1856

OH give me near some swelling stream to stray, 0r tread the windings of some pathless wood, For I am wearied of the bustling day, And long to meet thee, gloomy Solitude: That I with thee may climb those shelfy steeps, Which frown majestic o’er the boiling deeps. Continue reading “Solitude” →

Sonnet on Summer

A duo with my nephew, Hans Landon-Lane, from Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856)

Rosemary Bromley, Dave Edwards, Hans Landon-Lane

Clever Hansel – ukulele vocal
Dave Edwards – guitar, harmonica, vocal

This was the last in-person collaboration before the COVID-19 shutdown, recorded in Lower Hutt, New Zealand, March 2020.

THE sweet breath of summer blows fresh o’er each plain,

The woods have resumed their lost grandeur again;

The groves with the notes of the blackbird are ringing,

By fountain and streamlet the wild ﬂowers are springing.

And the breath of the heather bell sweetens the breeze,

And the old stormy ocean lies slumbering in peace;

And the wild bees are humming around the wild ﬂowers,

Afar above earth the lark proudly soars;

The bleat of the lamb on the moss-cover’d hill,

The sound of the shepherd’s pipe jocund and shrill,

All tell in a language most striking and plain,

T hat summer, fair summer, is reigning again,

The old face of nature her smiles has put on,

And the blustery appearance of winter has ﬂown.

Fiji 1976, by Alastair Edwards

Film footage by my father, Alastair Edwards (1936-2010), in Nadi and around Viti Levu in 1976.

It’s from my parents’ honeymoon, a couple of years before I was born.

There was no sound, so I’ve added a soundtrack from Ruasagavulu, which Dr Emit Snake-Beings and I recorded in Suva decades later.

My Dad’s interest in film (then video) and photography was one of the key influences on my own travel and videomaking. He was doing this long before youtube or instagram!

I miss you Dad…

16 February @ Fernside Gardens Open Days

I played solo acoustic at the Fernside Gardens Open Day on Sunday 16th February, 11am.

Continue reading “16 February @ Fernside Gardens Open Days” →

Huia Vortex

Animated visuals, with electric guitar loops, one-stringed bass, and drums – the opening track from the ‘Ngumbang‘ album (get the free download) – w/ Emit Snake-beings & Nat da Hatt

The title ‘Huia Vortex’ refers to the location where the track was recorded, in Huia, a small village on the outskirts of west Auckland.

It’s not necessarily related to ‘Swansong (for the Huia)‘ (2004), the second album by The Winter, an electro-acoustic trio improvisation in tribute to the extinct New Zealand bird the huia by Dave Edwards, Mike Kingston, and Simon Sweetman. Its 19-minute final track remains an underrated fiffdimension epic. [send us your review]

The Marion Flow (part 2, Wellington 2001)

“It’s lo-fi, organic and about as eclectic as one could manage. Kind of reminds me of Nick Cave if he had grown up in Timaru. No pretentious American accents or catch phrase choruses, just a bunch of people making music. A little beauty!” – NZ Musician, August/September 2002

Listen

Credits

Written by Dave Edwards, and produced by Paul Winstanley,

Featuring Chris O’Connor (drums), Chris Palmer (electric guitars), Simon O’Rorke (percussion), Dean Brown (drums).

Recorded at Thistle Hall, Wellington, 2001, and mixed by Joe Callwood.

Chris O’Connor
Chris Palmer
Paul Winstanley
Simon O’Rorke
Dave Edwards

About

The Marion Flow was originally a longer album which spanned recordings from New Plymouth in 1999 and Wellington in 2001.

In 1999, aged 20, I’d left New Plymouth, a large rural town, where I grew up, and moved to Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city, where I’d been born and where my early pakeha settler ancestors had lived in the 19th century. The Marion Flow reflects this journey, geographically, sonically and spiritually.

“The lights on the city, the barrenness glowed

& behind me the sea as it ebbed & flowed,

Leave the loner alone to go face what he knows

Chained to the flow…” – Seafriends

For the earlier 1999 New Plymouth sessions see The Marion Flow (part 1, Taranaki);

By the time the opportunity arose to finish recording the Marion Flow I’d been thoroughly immersed in the Wellington free jazz and avant-garde music scene, and was very fortunate to have help from some of the top players there. I’d never studied music at school or been in a conventional band, and was out of my depth technically… so working around my limitations became a spark to creativity.

I’ve now reissued the two halves of the album separately – to emphasise the sense of time and place, and stylistic evolution, and to re-present them more concisely for the short-attention-span 21st century.

“Edwards’ music is often a sculpture rather than a melodic composition. Within this chosen form, amongst all the writings rantings & poetry there’s much difficult pleasure to be had for the musically adventurous.” – Brent Cardy, Real Groove, July 2002

Tracklist

	1.	Seafriends 03:07 Dave Edwards – acoustic guitar, vocal Paul Winstanley – fretless bass Chris Palmer – electric guitars Chris O’Connor – drums
	2.	A Wedding 03:48 Dave Edwards – electric guitar, piano innards, canvas sheet, vocal
	3.	A Visit to the Beehive 00:45 Dave Edwards – acoustic guitar, vocal Simon O’Rorke – drums
	4.	Monkeys with Typewriters 03:30 Dave Edwards – electric guitar Chris Palmer – electric guitar Simon O’Rorke – percussion
	5.	Tony Was Here (but they put him on ice) 03:07 Dave Edwards – electric guitar, vocal Chris O’Connor – drums
	6.	Cafes in Conversation 03:38 Dave Edwards – electric guitar, vocal Paul Winstanley – fretless bass Chris O’Connor – drums
	7.	The Marion Flow (live at the Space) 09:07 Dave Edwards – electric guitar, harmonica, vocal Dean Brown – drums
	8.	Seafriends (instrumental mix) 04:05 Dave Edwards – acoustic guitar Paul Winstanley – fretless bass Chris Palmer – electric guitars Chris O’Connor – drums

Further listening

Continue reading →

1999

At the close of the 90s, aged 20, I left New Plymouth, the large rural town in Taranaki province, where I grew up.

I moved to Wellington, New Zealand’s capital city, where I’d been born and where my 19th century pakeha settler ancestors had lived.

My second album, The Marion Flow reflected this journey. It showed a musical and lyrical evolution beyond my debut Scratched Surface.

(part 1, Taranaki).

The Marion Flow

Electric and acoustic songs, spoken word and instrumentals – an almost-recognised New Zealand classic (1999–2001)

“It’s lo-fi, organic and about as eclectic as one could manage. Kind of reminds me of Nick Cave if he had grown up in Timaru. No pretentious American accents or catch phrase choruses, just a bunch of people making music. A little beauty!” – NZ Musician, August/September 2002

Paul Winstanley, recording The Marion Flow (1999)

Paul Winstanley played bass on and engineered the recording sessions, which were hosted by Brian Wafer.

The “hit single” Banana Wizard was released on a compilation of Taranaki music and had some student radio airplay around the country… about the extent of my commercial success to date.

I was also opening my ears and mind to more experimental sounds, and moving beyond conventional pop song structures.

At the same sessions we recorded free improvisations, which Paul later overdubbed and rearranged into

dAdApApA: Waiting for the Drummer

Taranaki improvised rock/noise deconstruction with sputtering synth, air-sucking turntables, didgeridoo and sundry toys providing layers of surreal abstraction (1999)

“after recording tracks for The Marion Flow at Wafer HQ in New Plymouth, an ad hoc group of associated locals assembled to record… the only rock references here come from the guitars… throw in some spoken word and a special guest appearance by N.P. record mogul Brian Wafer on vacuum cleaner and the dAdApApA nova had blazed and fizzled in the blink of an eye” – Eden Gully

& then I got to the capital city, and was suddenly a small fish in a bigger pond…

Part 2, Wellington

Dave Edwards, at Bar Bodega, Wellington NZ, 1999

Here’s what I sounded like around the time I arrived in Wellington – this solo postpunk set at Bar Bodega, opening for Chris Knox, was preserved (in lo-fi, a 90s aesthetic):

Live 1999

[send us your review]

But apart from songs I also fell under the influence of the burgeoning avant garde and free improv scene in Wellington.

This was centred around a venue called the Space (later Fred’s and then the Pyramid Club)… the dissonant flipside of the more popular smooth Pasifika/jazz sound the city became known for (Fat Freddy’s Drop et al).

Although way out of my depth technically, I met up with improvising percussionist Simon O’Rorke, and jazz-trained players including Blair Latham and Jeff Henderson to make