Australian music veteran David Bridie — best known for his work with My Friend The Chocolate Cake and Not Drowning, Waving — ventures back to his roots with his new album, Wake.
David’s fourth solo album takes its listener on a journey in sound, through beautifully layered and spacious songs. David says it was just time to do a ‘David Bridie’ record.
“I wanted to get back to the reason why I got into music to begin with,” he says, “to be a singer-songwriter and play piano. I’m happiest doing that.”
The 11 originals on Wake take on an eclectic array of shifting moods, textures and sounds, all the while questioning the human condition with sincerity. “I write songs about stuff that affects me,” Bridie confirms. “Hopefully the record takes you through ranges of moods and subject matters.”
Tracks like ‘Delegate’ and ‘Treason’ offer subtle social comment. “Those songs have strong social comment, but if all the songs had that, it would lessen the effect. Songs can shift around in their focus, the best records do that; take you to a range of places and range of perspectives.”
Half the tracks on Wake were mixed in Melbourne by Simon Polinski, and the other half in San Francisco by Ryan Coseboom of Stripmall Architecture. “It made me realise how bad Melbourne traffic is,” David recalls. “I spent as much time with Ryan as Simon. They’d send me mp3s of their mixes, then we'd communicate by email. I thought I'd just go down to Simon's studio, and do the internet thing with Ryan. But after one day of trying to drive to Simon’s, on the south side of Melbourne, he might as well have been in San Francisco.”
David says the recording process has become easier for him over the years, though he did record part of ‘Delegate’ drunk. “We did lots of writing and recording in a farmhouse in Taralga, NSW and I did record the high backing vocal for ‘Delegate’ there, really drunk at about three A.M, and I unfortunately can’t replicate it, which was a bit mad.”
With no end in sight, David says he’ll keep making music until he falls into his grave.
“I'm not about to give up music to do tupperware parties. It's a wonderful way of spending your time and making a living.”
Wake is available now. David Bridie plays the following dates:
Thu Jul 11 — Mullum Civic Memorial Hall (Mullumbimby)
Sat Jul 13 — Brisbane Powerhouse
Sun Jul 14 — The Loft (Chevron Island)
Thu Jul 18 — The Loft (Warrnambool)
Fri Jul 19 — The Aratat Hotel Red Room (Aratat)
Sat Jul 20 — Northcote Social Club (Melbourne)
Thu Jul 25 — The Clarendon (Blue Mountains)
Fri Jul 26 — The Basement (Sydney)
Sat Jul 27 — Lizottes Central Coast (Kincumber)
Sun Jul 28 — Lizottes (Newcastle)
Fri Aug 02 — The Memo (Healesville)
Sat Aug 03 — Caravan Music Club (Oakleigh)
Sun Aug 04 — Montrose Town Centre
Sat Aug 17 — Republic Bar (Hobart)
Sun Aug 18 — Brookfield (Margate)
Fri Sep 06 — The Substation (Newport)
