The Wonderfish Collective live with strings!

Tomorrow night is the first of two ‘Songs from the Wonderfish Collective’ shows… with a 16-piece string section!

I’ve been chipping away at this project for a few months. Basically, these guys are a bunch of singer-songwriters who perform several gigs a year, usually at The Victoria Theatre in Devonport and Galatos in the city. Frequently they include a string duo or quartet, plus a horn section… often making them a 15-piece on stage. Funky as.

On this occasion they decided to go big, getting a full 16-piece string section to accompany them on stage. And that’s where I came in. While the first half of the show will be the band in their usual format, for the second half I’ve written eight new arrangements which will be performed by members of the Devonport Chamber Orchestra and Auckland Symphony Orchestra, and will be conducted by yours truly.

We’ve knocked out a few rehearsals and it’s sounding fantastic! These guys are talented writers. Come along and enjoy.

THE BAND

• VOCALS/GUITAR/MANDOLIN/BANJO - Al Baxter

• VOCALS/GUITAR/UKULELE - Nick Edgar

• VOCALS/GUITAR - Alex Mckegg

• VOCALS - Robbie Mckegg

• DRUMS - Rusty Knox

• BASS - Glenn Coldham

• CONDUCTOR / ARRANGEMENTS - Ryan Youens

• VIOLIN 1 - Helen Crook, Michael Hunter, Helen van Druten, Glynn Sergeant

• VIOLIN 2 - Emily Allen, Soren Wislang, Alex Laubli, Arthur Ranford

• VIOLA - Robyn Strange, Joseph Chen, Judith Gust, Andrea Smith

• CELLO - Maxine Cunliffe, Claire Postlethwaite, Michelle Caldicott, Mary Greig-Clayton

THE DETAILS

6th April - The Vic, Devonport 8pm (tickets here)

13th April - TAPAC, Western Springs 8pm (tickets here)

See you there!

String collaborations on Rhian Sheehan's 'A Quiet Divide'

An email from Rhian Sheehan pondering an upcoming collaboration is the type of email you look forward to… knowing that you’re about to embark on an incredible musical journey and have the pleasure of exploring his masterpieces from within. In short, the guy is a bloody legend. The way he evokes emotion and explores texture and colour within music is something I greatly admire.

It was a year ago, September 2017, when we started working on the first track. Co-arranging and orchestrating the strings for what is now is latest album, ‘A Quiet Divide’. Over a few months we tweaked the arrangements, added layers, subtracted layers, lengthened, shortened, rewrote endings over and over until they hit the mark. Finally comes February 27th this year when we recorded in Wellington with some of NZ’s finest string players as part of Stroma FilmWorks.

Later Rhian recorded pianos in Auckland with his wife Raashi and the wonderful Justin Bird.

Depth of colour, textural clarity and control of phrasing were themes in these charts. Here’s two examples of how this was achieved:

This type of arranging/orchestration work is so rewarding. Working with such talented musicians and, with the strings, bringing out the magic that lies within their creations.

Fast forward to today, October 5th, and the album is released. And it’s pretty stunning. This is music for the soul. There’s been some good write ups on the album already. This from Drifting, Almost Falling I particularly enjoyed, which gives thoughtful insight on the inner musical elements:

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“The highlight for me, is the string section. The depth of sound which they create as well as the previously mentioned emotion, transports the listener away from whatever cares they are currently experiencing and as the strings soar, so does the emotions of the listener.”

— Drifting, Almost Falling [on Lost Letters]

“The string section rises and swoons and the crotales provide a whimsical innocence that I am personally a sucker for. The track itself is the type that you could build an album around. You have moments of contemplation, a space for instruments to intersect and compliment each other and then finally, the music is given an opportunity to expand on its humble beginnings and becomes elevated to another level. As the track progresses it feels as if a whole orchestra is at once all rising as you feel the music become more intense, with the strings in particular aching with emotion. I defy any listener to not get goosebumps listening to this (or for that matter any of the tracks on the album).”

— Drifting, Almost Falling [on April]

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Take a listen below and then buy a copy for yourself! Our string collaborations are tracks: 3. Lost Letters, 4. Soma Dreams, 5. Between Us and the Dying Starlight, 6. We Danced Under a Broken Sky, 10. Someplace and 12. April.

And if that wasn’t enough, Rhian is performing live shows around the country to celebrate. Dunedin was last week. But coming up there is:

• 12 October, Michael Fowler Centre, Wellington - TICKETS

• 20-21 October, Nelson Theatre Royal (Nelson Arts Festival) - TICKETS

• 26-27 October, Q Theatre, Auckland - TICKETS 26th, or TICKETS 27th

…and in Auckland you might just find a special guest in the viola section.

Final notes go in for Victoria Kelly's "Toi Huarewa / Suspended Way"

This week I have had the absolute pleasure of typesetting Victoria Kelly's new piece Toi Huarewa / Suspended Way - a 20-minute collaboration with Horomona Horo, Tim Worrall and NZTrio.

There are so many great things about my job, but getting to see how different composers work and seeing their ideas come together on paper is just wonderful. It was also very inspiring seeing the collaborative nature of this work too, right from the early workshops (as can be viewed here in a short documentary by Jonathan King) up until the final post-rehearsal tweaks and revisions.

This morning, without a moment to spare, the final version got the tick of approval and it's good to.

It looks stunning on paper and the snippet of rehearsal I heard was amazing so I think we're in for a treat tonight. 7pm in the Auckland Town Hall Concert Chamber. The concert is part of the Auckland Festival and also features works by Gareth Farr, Gao Ping and Chen Yi.

See you there!

Just add an orchestra and ... magic!!

Well there's one thing that always gets me going. Gets me so excited that I want to start a project such as that myself. It is orchestral collaborations with bands etc. Just love it. Some "purists" hate it, but they are just boring. To me, they are something that the players love, because they are at long last doing something new and fresh, and the audiences love it because of too many reasons to note. Of course also, it brings a whole new audience to an "orchestra" concert. These were popularised firstly I guess by the legendary Michael Kamen. He orchestrated and conducted so many concerts, including ones with Pink Floyd, Queen, Eric Clapton, Aerosmith, David Bowie, Bryan Adams, Sting and Metallica. The latter, I think, is absolutely amazing. See a track from it here. It is so wonderfully orchestrated and put together. Of course the huge full size orchestra makes it all the more better.

MANY of these happen each every year and I wish there was some place where I could keep track of them all. Another one I found was a recent one from the UK. This orchestra is much smaller in size, but still, it's an orchestra. This one is The Bays, who are an improvisation kinda band, who teamed up with The Heritage Orchestra in Liverpool. They also do some amazing stuff with how the orchestra players get their music ... check it out.

Finally, I can't leave without mentioning a little homegrown talent. John Psathas recently arranged all the music for a Little Bushmen / Auckland Philharmonia gig. I couldn't make it to the concert, but have watched the documentary, and it's fantastic. It's a three part doco which starts here, but if you want to go straight to the final concert, see that here.

Well I've only briefly mentioned three, so do let me know if you have any favourites.