On November 30 in Durban, Nibs van der Spuy will release his all-acoustic album, Morning Star, in what is seen as a radical departure to Nibs’ highly acclaimed solo catalogue. What sets this album more apart is that it was recorded in one day and all the material was written four months prior to entering the studio. Secondly, this is Nibs at his most musically-naked. It features only his voice and various guitars recorded simultaneously, usually in the first or second take.When asked for the reasoning for this different approach, Nibs said: “I’ve always wanted to record an album essentially ‘live’ in the studio and totally solo. In pretty much the way Bob Dylan recorded his first three solo albums, saying it the way it is, in an organic and real fashion. Those albums still sound fresh and timeless 50 years later. Nick Drake did it 10 years after Dylan with his Pink Moon album. Recorded in ten hours, it has now become a folk masterpiece and a reference to the NU FOLK movement of the new millennium.
“Another huge inspiration for this departure to the norm,” van der Spuy continues, “is Bruce Springsteen’s Nebraska album, recorded in his lounge. With this nakedness, the imagery is so powerful that you can taste the dust in your mouth. Lyrically and musically I wanted it to be so fresh and close to the bone, almost as if I was singing the songs for the first time. With Morning Star, the ‘out back’ South African experience is the tangible backdrop. There are ghost trains travelling through desolate landscapes, dry river beds with broken wind pumps, bitter wine, abandoned Cape Dutch houses and lost love.”
The album also features two bonus songs, Once I climbed a lion mountain and A house across the river, recorded in the France Inter Studios in Paris.
Nibs van der Spuy will appear on November 30 at 19h30 at the Alliance Francaise de Durban. Entrance Fee R60. the Alliance is situated in Windermere Road, opposite Sutton Park in Morningside. Bookings: culture.afdurban@alliance.org.za or phone 031 312 9582.
Posts
