29 Aug 2017

A Nuance by Greg Malcolm and Stefan Neville

From The Sampler, 7:30 pm on 29 August 2017

Nick Bollinger discusses the lo-fi easy listening of itinerant indie artists Greg Malcolm and Stefan Neville.

Greg Malcolm

Greg Malcolm Photo: supplied

Sometimes I want to hear something that's familiar, but in a way that is going to surprise me. And here's a local album that did that for me - and keeps on doing it.

The minimalist melody of 'The Beat Goes On', the old Sonny and Cher song is one of a dozen tunes, several of which were familiar to me, on A Nuance.

A Nuance

A Nuance Photo: supplied

Greg Malcolm and Stefan Neville might not be household names, but they are two of the most individual and committed music makers in this country. Malcolm is a guitarist; Neville plays various things including drums and reed organ. Both have been at it for decades, each of them leaving a trail of recordings and performances under a variety of guises, both here and around the world. But as far as can tell this is the first one they have made together. And I like it very much.

On another tune I knew, an old Irish jig called 'Banish Misfortune', Malcolm expands beautifully on the melody while Stefan Neville builds droning layers of organ and lights the odd firework under the whole thing with some crackling percussion.

Velvet Underground by Candlelight anyone? One use for this album could be as a kind of lo-fi easy listening. But it's a varied set, and the slow-building instrumentals are interspersed with the odd vocal tune, like the old mountain tune 'Rocky Mountain Side', which Malcolm and Neville borrow from the Appalachian banjo player Roscoe Holcolmb.

If you were going to characterise the repertoire on this album you could say it was essentially folk music - though that definition would have to stretch to include jazz composer Steve Lacy and Scottish humourist Ivor Cutler.

The whole thing was recorded in just two nights, a year apart. And it's like I'm eavesdropping on those evenings of intuition and invention every time I hear it. A Nuance is currently available on Bandcamp, with a vinyl pressing scheduled for the not-too-distant future.