snakebeings – fiffdimension

The live debut of Dave Black & Snake Beings, at the Audio Foundation in Auckland, NZ in 2014; and an epic journey half-way around the world, across Eurasia.

Listen

Two itinerant New Zealanders, playing a soundtrack to travel videos by each, collected over years spent living abroad.

The soundtrack infused noise and free improvisation with field recordings and world music elements.

(Track 4 first appeared on fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/ngumbang-2015;
we met up again a few years later in Fiji, and recorded fiffdimension.bandcamp.com/album/ruasagavulu-fiji-2020)

credits

released July 10, 2026

Dave Edwards – acoustic guitar, sanshin, clarinet, melodica, vocal, field recordings, video
www.fiffdimension.com/ethnomusicology

Emit Snake-Beings – percussion, electronics, duduk, zither, field recordings, video
snakebeings.co.nz

Continue reading →

Songs of the seasons, the forest and the sea, home and exile, mortality and immortality:

an adaptation of the book, “Poems and Lyrics (in the English and Scotch dialects)“ by John Collie, of Boyndie (1834-1893), with music by his descendants in New Zealand, between 2020-2025

Listen

“Songs from the harp and lyre – a fantastic flow back from the ancient days” – Dr Emit Snake-Beings

The album includes collaborations with my nephew Hans Landon-Lane, plus guest appearances by Antony Milton and Dr Emit Snake-Beings.

“I have been lucky enough to hear some of Dave Edwards work on this at a couple of shows – very cool concept project and worth a listen” – James Trotman

Background

My great-great-grandfather published his book in 1856, before emigrating to New Zealand for the rest of his life.

Discovering this family outsider art precedent in 2018 cast fiffdimension in a whole new light! It sparked a seven-year project to record musical arrangements of his poems for a new century’s audience.

“And with a trembling hand I launch my tiny vessel into the troubled ocean of literature , where many a noble craft has been shattered to pieces…”

Like his better-known countryman (and influence) Robert Burns, John Collie wrote in both English and Scots. The other half of the album is Poems & Lyrics in the Scotch Dialect

Continue reading →