This jukebox plays songs, instrumental pieces, and excerpts from film
and television music I've written.
My “main” instrument—the one on which I most often perform publicly and
enjoy the most—is my harp. For Pender Street (2006), I accompanied it
with di-dze, the bamboo transverse flute of traditional Chinese music.
It's one of several pieces I wrote as background music for the CBC
mini-series Dragon Boys, working under the prodigious Tim McCauley.
On Showdown (2006), you'll hear electric guitar, electronically
processed percussion loops lifted from a scratchy old Latin dance lp,
bells, duduk, and jaw harp. It's little a nod to Morricone's Spaghetti
Western scores, written for a slightly tongue-in-cheek showdown scene
in a film, but not used (yet).
Sutil is the first piece on my CD Into the Green (1996). The Spanish
word means, approximately, “cunning” or “clever,” just as “subtle” once
meant this in archaic English. It was the name given to the ship of the
Spanish explorer Dionisio Galiano, after whom Galiano Island is named.
I worked on this piece while staying with my friend Kate at Sutil Lodge
on the Island.
Swamp Lanterns Beckon, from the Widdershins' A New History of the New
World (1995), was actually written in my head over a single 20 minute
bike ride from home to the University of Victoria. “Swamp Lantern” is
the more polite name of the plant usually known as “Skunk Cabbage.” The
Widdershins came together very quickly as a collection of friends from
three bands: the Paperboys--myself and Moritz Behm; the Colorifics
--Bernie Boulanger, Lindsey Davis (Lily Frost), and Jason Lasalle; and
BareNaked Ladies—Andrew Creeggan. Andrew helped to produce a recording
over a one-week stint with John Ellis in Chemainus. We made some great
music and played some grat shows, and then the band dissolved as
quickly as it had formed.
Before the Widdershins, I was lucky to have spent a busy year and a
half with the Paperboys while doing my MA at UBC. Whiskey in the Tea is
a reel that was my contribution to the Paperboys' Juno nominated (1996)
"Late as Usual". Recorded with Geoff Kelly of Spirit of the West—a hero
of mine from my teens and a wizard of Irish flute and whistle—in the
control room. Yikes! It's preceded by a traditional jig called Boys of
the Mill.
Next, some orchestral music I wrote for a wonderful short film by Katy
Yu, Birthdays and Other Traumas. The film was nominated for several Leo
awards, “Best Musical Score” being one of them. I'm looking forward to
working with Katy again.
The seventh selection is a little piece of music written to accompany a
short online documentary
(http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/exhibitions/albersmoholy/film/) produced
by Magic Lantern for the Tate Modern gallery in London for a 2006
exhibition on the Bauhaus. This angular, abstract, synthetic blurb of
music is a response to the painting of Albers and Moholy-Nagy.
Dan Zukovic's Dark Arc premiered at the 2004 Montreal Film Festival,
and featured Dan as “Count Laris,” Sarah Strange as “Juxta,” and my
good friend Kurt Max Runte as the meek Ed Smith. The excerpt of music
you'll hear is from the visually arresting opening scene. (
http://darkarcthemovie.com )
When HH the Dalai Lama visited Vancouver in 2004, James Riley put
together the webcast of the event. He asked me to provide music for the
opening, and Moritz Behm (showing here his usual soul) and I offered
this.
The tenth piece is a little waltz theme (2005) played on pump organ, a
hammond tube organ, melodica, and toy piano. Written for a film.
Finally, two more Widdershins tunes: Carrion Crow, a fable of some
psychological and political depth from Mother Goose written with
Michael Best and Bernie Boulanger (with his usual brilliant guitar
work), and Tempus Rapit Omnia (time steals everything), a version of
Sutil for the band for which I wrote some Latin lyrics for Lindsey to
sing.
Enjoy! Questions or comments? On the home page, click
Contact.
Cheers,
Neil
