The Broken Face:
I first got in touch with Dave Edwards of The Winter after writing an article
series about underground music.from the South Island of New Zealand. If my
memory serves me he wrote me an e-mail saying that the music I wrote about
indeed is great but also wondered if I'd heard the music coming out of
Wellington, mentioning that there's a big (for NZ) scene of improvised music
coming more out of the free jazz/European improv tradition that I probably would
enjoy. I had heard bits here and there and I can still not claim to be an expert
but thanks to some on-line searching and a few purchases the picture is at least
starting to get a bit more complete.
One part of that picture is a number of projects revolving around the
aforementioned Dave Edwards and the one that's up for inspection right here is
the Winter trio and their debut album "Parataxes". What we get is a strange
sonic brew that includes dissonant rock textures, rough outsider folk-blues
mysteries, electric and acoustic improvisations and a considerable part of tasty
feedback. Imagine equal parts Derek Bailey, New Zealand's Pumice and classic
'60s blues/folk and you're in the rigth ballpark. So I guess it's obvious that
The Winter walks the tightrope between lots of different styles, but they also
veer back and forth from the relatively structured and mellow to what easily
could be referred to as a disjointed aural mess. It's all in all a complex
listen that won't appeal to everyone, but anyone interested in eclectic NZ
experimentalism will want to seek this guitar/harmonica/cello/percussion album
out.
Dream magazine
Dave Edwards + the Winter "Loose Autumn Moans"
(http://fiffdimension.tripod.com) Here Wellington, NZ composer Dave
Edwards mostly goes it solo with some able assistance from duo or trio the
Winter. Often Dave is singing, or very nearly so, as on the jazzy opening
track "Summer Skin", or the almost folky "Working Like a Fountain in the
Slender Morning Chill", elsewhere the sounds are more scattered,
accumulated and fragmentary, as he sing/talks in a latter day fractured
Barrett unreeling narrative. There are some free noise experiments and
clattering nonverbal splatter, but most often this feels like slightly
depressive verbose spoken word expositions over acoustic improvisations.
Guitars, violin, cello, and percussion all stack up into these unwieldy
assemblages framing Dave's flattened intonations. Edwards recalls a less
tuneful Kevin Coyne; but he's got a persona that's all his own.
George Parsons
Dream Magazine #5
Gig at Arc last night was fun, or at least I know I must have played reasonably well since I didn't finish thinking 'man that sucked'. It was a short set opening for the Futurians & the Chandeliers (from Wellington, seemed just like home). I should hopefully have a jam with a couple of local guys and maybe do another 'Arcoustic' set on Monday 8th.
I put in an application for a part-time reporter job with Kapi-Mana in Porirua, which'd be great as I'd actually rather be a journalist part-time than full-time. I could then also work outdoors over summer for Nga Uruora Kapiti the rest of the week. Maybe get a flat at Paekakariki and come into Wellington for the weekends & keep the Ascension Band going (I'm just listening to the recording from Meatwaters - sounds pretty solid). Or maybe I'll get a job in Dunedin. Too early to say. Jobs are always going to be the deciding factor... SNAFU.
Posted by fiffdimension at October 30, 2004 01:34 PM | TrackBack