Nick Cody

Indie Buddie review of “Tales of Dark & Light

Nick Cody and the Caravan of Dreams have released their latest album ‘Tales of Dark and Light’. Musician Nick Cody collaborates with what he describes as a ‘caravan of talent’ in this latest release.
‘Tales of Dark and Light’ is a warm cosy album filled with mellow tones,rich instrumentation and wholesome country hues. The album speaks truth about the world in which we live, illustrating issues such as Brexit, murder and social change within the beautifully crafted lyrics. There are glorious harmonies throughout the album and tracks such as ‘Tales Of Dark & Light (Intro)’ feature these wonderful harmonies in all their sweet richness.

The album is brimming with peppy foot tapping ditties from ‘Grey Skies’ and ‘Dunning Kruger Blues’ while ‘The Pink Moon (Song For Zeke)’ and ‘Here In The Silence’ brings a sweet easy going vibe to the album. The twinkling guitar twangs and simplistic retro vibe gives the tracks on the album a warm velvety feel and classy quality while the elegant strings and soft beat add a feathery light vibe. The delicate piano adds a touch of tenderness to tracks like ‘All That Loving’ and ‘When The Pain Begins’.

There is a sublime variety of refined musicianship throughout the album as the melty melodies unfold beautifully upon the mesmerizing instrumental backdrop making each track a snug delight to the ears. Each song flows fluidly into the next with the noir pop hooks and cinematic instrumentation creating joyous moments and chilling tones like in ‘The Other Me’. The majestic blend of acoustic instruments create a unique sound that consumes you into the depths of the album. The strings add wonderful characters to each track as it weaves its vibrant melodies through the darker songs with a playful or melancholic persona and tempting allurement. The band close the album as they began it with ‘Tales Of Dark & Light (Outro)’ bringing the whole experience full circle.

‘Tales of Dark and Light’ showcases beautiful musicianship, lush warm harmonies and glorious instrumentation. This album oozes charm and character.

https://www.indiebuddie.com/category/new-music/

Tales of Dark & Light Launch

Last night we completed the launch for “Tales of Dark and Light” We were delighted to play at The Constitutional in Farsley Leeds. This is a great venue and it was a joy to play to such an appreciative listening audience.

Nicky Bray provided an excellent support slot with some terrific songs that the audience really enjoyed. At 9 pm the 7 piece Caravan of Dreams swung into action which then was joined by the superb Jon Burr on “Slow News Day” and “Grey Skies’. Jon is an exceptional harmonica player and did not disappoint. Both Laurent Zeller and Jed Bevington played violin, with Fergus Quill on double bass, Rich Ferdi on percussion, Agi on vocals and Chris Smith on keys. Its like playing with “The East Street Band” this is a powerful ensemble and the audience loved these songs.

It is an honor and a privilege to play with such superb musicians and I played five different instruments during the set – tenor ukulele, 5 string baritone, Gregor Nowak guitarelle, Waterloo acoustic and Moses custom strat. This was the first time I had played acoustic and electric guitars with the full band and I loved it. The Moses sounded very Neil Young on a new unrecorded song “Hold that thought” and the unrecorded “All Kinds of Crazy” which I did as a trio with Agi and Laurent. We finished the set with all eight of us “What you gonna do?” This was a magical night and we played in total for 90 minutes which included Rich, Laurent, Fergus and Jed playing a couple of great jazz standards.

There were lots of moving parts and the band was brilliant. Carl Rosamond made sure the sound was perfect and it was great to have a proper sound check and set length rather than the usual “OK, 5 minutes for a line check and then you are on” nonsense. These days I increasingly prefer smaller acoustically great venues both to play in and as an audience member. I’m already planning 2020 as well as completing a series of other Caravan gigs in the UK. The music is far more diverse and its really liberating to be playing a wide range of instruments. Its also far more challenging, but a huge amount of fun!

Flying solo at Mill Chapel

I was lucky enough to be invited to perform at a charity event last night at Mill Chapel Leeds. This is very unusual for me as I usually perform with a band or as a duo and this was an entirely different experience. I decided to pick two tracks, one old favorite “There’s only one of you” on ukulele and “All kinds of crazy” which is a brand new song that I have never player before. This was performed on the superb Collings Waterloo guitar. Both instruments were plugged into a Henriksen Blu amp and the Waterloo was amplified via a Schertler bug pickup which works brilliantly in such situations.

This was terrific charity event and a showcase for any young singers who on the night contributed to a magical evening. I was pleased with my own performances and it was a great chance to work up an older track in a new way as well as play “All kinds of crazy for the first time”

The Henriksen Blu is a fantastic amp and I have blogged about this many times. I love that it simply replicates the sound of the instrument perfectly without having to change any EQ settings.

This solo outing was a real light bulb moment for me. Firstly it reassured me that the songs stand up really well. It also showed me that many of these older songs can be reworked in a stripped down format. This fits perfectly with the idea for my next project. I’m increasingly interested in “less is more” I’ll continue to play with the full Caravan of Dreams ensemble, but I’ll also explore more solo and duo formats for playing.

Supporting Live Music

I’ve been involved in many discussions about how many music venues are closing down and it seems that less and less people are supporting live music. A recent Guardian article noted

“The UK’s rapidly changing live music scene. In January 2018, industry body UK Music estimated that 35% of venues across the country had closed in the preceding decade. The UK’s first live music census, published the following month, found that a third of Britain’s small venues outside London were fighting to survive in the face of high business rates and noise restrictions.”

I’ve seen some amazing signed artists that have attracted tiny audiences. I saw the brilliant Fred Eaglesmith play a local venue in Leeds and only 12 people showed up including myself and my wife. In San Francisco once I saw a brilliant trio where again almost nobody showed up.

My own experience is that less and less people are going out to hear bands play unless they are major bands and then such bands often play in huge arenas which are not to my taste. I’m working on the Music for Head and Heart Project that launches later this year in the hope we can reverse some of this trend. I love to see great musicians play live but ultimately unless the public vote with their feet, the venues will continue to disappear.

Again from the Guardian article

” Independent music spots help give cities their identity but are disappearing at a worrying rate, says Cardiff-based campaigner Daniel Minty, who runs agig guide in the Welsh capital. “We’re just going to be full of Prets and Greggs,” he said. “Bands do start at the very bottom, and people forget that.”

Full article HERE

I’ve seen many fantastic performers over the decades, but the number of venues and audience sizes seem to be getting smaller and smaller which is in my view a real shame.

The Album “Tales of Dark and Light” is here!

I am delighted to receive the pressings for “Tales of Dark and Light” This has been a monumental project with contributions form no less than 14 musicians.

The material is far more expanded than anything I have done before and Carl Rosamond has once again brought his magic in the studio to produce a really terrific sound. Karen Turner supplied excellent photos, Junko Hosomi did the great graphics and Sarah Patrick did the layout

Special thanks to everyone involved, its been a terrific team effort! Next stop is the album launch May 11th

Finding a unique voice in singing

Over four years ago when learning the ukulele for the first time, my tutor Jessica Bowie suggested “Lets sing a song” After a quick deep breath I busked my way through “Hey Jude” and yes it was not that great. I never envisaged doing any of this singing stuff and always thought of myself as a player/aspiring musician. Five years on, I confess to absolutely loving all aspects of singing. The voice is like any other musical instrument, it takes time to develop and refine. After a few attempts at finding local teachers with varying success, I finally found a great tutor in Agi. Not only does she have a superb voice and is an artist in her own right, but she has the exact technical skills and the teaching skills to really help others.

When I first contacted Agi, 18 months ago, she was so booked up that the only slot was 8pm on a Friday night. I booked one lesson and was immediately so convinced that for the last year I see her twice a week. Her input has been invaluable in helping me not only develop my own confidence in singing but massively accelerating my writing skills and the new Caravan of Dreams material is IMO my best yet. I’m focusing increasingly on expression and developing vocal range. On the Caravan of Dreams debut album Agi coached me to do a three part harmony for the title track, which I would never have thought possible.

I also have a massive appreciation for singers who learn how to develop their voices. Its a bucket of hard work, but truly inspiring and I can honestly say I really love it. In a week’s time I’ll be doing a couple of solo songs for the very first time at the charity event linked below and I strongly recommend supporting this evening as well as exploring the extraordinary medium of singing. I suspect when you do so, you’ll surprise yourself and find it genuinely liberating

For Agi’s debut single check HERE

BOOK FOR THE CHARITY EVENT BELOW VIA THE LINK

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/voices-unite-tickets-60636170418

The case for high resolution audio & video

I recently had an exchange on social media talking about high resolution audio and video. One poster insisted that it doesn’t really matter and with audio people are just listening to their equipment. I take a very different view…

A live performance is IMO the closest you will get to seeing and hearing an artist perform. After that we have various degrees of data capture which will deliver a “representation” of the performance, but what you see and hear will be limited by the data capture and the medium you are using. There’s no right or wrong but of course until recently many people have never seen high resolution TV or heard high resolution audio.

With movies, I soon appreciated that Blu Ray was vastly better in terms of quality than standard DVD and standard DVD was better than VHS tape. The viewer was able to literally see more of what was originally filmed. With 4K DVD the quality is again a major jump up, BUT you only really notice this when you are watching back on a compatible TV and I would suggest 55 inches at least. In comparing Blu Ray and 4K film versions the 4K films seem more “film like” and there’s of course significantly more detail.

With audio there’s often a lot of heated debate, but before passing any comment I respectfully suggest people interested in such matters listen to some examples, so they can discuss from a point of actual knowledge! High resolution flac files, DSD and SACD recordings reveal far more of the original recording, so the listener can literally hear more of what the artist created. Of course this kind of reveal shows up the limitations of any original recording as well.

Ultimately its a matter of personal choice but I’m always interested in the best audio and visual representations which IMO create a more enjoyable and satisfying experience. I’m perfectly aware many others will disagree (many will do so without any actual experience of high resolution audio and video) and a lot of folks are perfectly happy listening to mp3 files on their phones!

Glen Hansard in Dublin

I have always been a great fan of Glen Hansard and last night in Dublin once again he delivered a superb live performance showcasing his new album. Like all great songwriters he is constantly developing his craft and the new album out Friday is superb.

Glen Hansard

Glen has been a big influence on my own writing and he is an exceptional live performer. Vicar Street Dublin is the perfect place to see him live and clearly his home crowd love his music as much as I do

Musical expansions and inspirations

I’ve been reflecting recently on many of the brilliant musicians I know who have inspired me to explore musical territory I would never have believed possible. My first band “The Small Change Diaries” was essentially a baptism of fire when I played my first ever live gigs and especially playing Lagoa Guitar festival where I met my good friend Laurent Zeller. Laurent has played on my last Small Change Diaries album and features on the new Caravan of Dreams album “Tales of Dark and Light”

The Lagoa gig was only the seventh live gig I had ever played and only the fourth live full band gig! I was well aware that I was the most inexperienced member of the band and I’ve never worked so hard to make sure I was as ready as possible playing a 45 minute set of original material I had written for the band! My producer Carl always commented “One live gig is worth” eight rehearsals and he’s 100% right. A few years on I’m now pretty comfortable with playing live and its an experience like no other.

The new ensemble “The Caravan of Dreams” is a killer outfit of musicians, and the album “Tales of Dark and Light” features no less than fourteen musicians. This has been a more ambitious project in terms of writing and arrangement. The single biggest game changer for me has been working with vocal coach Agi who also sings brilliantly on the Caravan tracks. I’ve never met anyone with such a brilliant ability to identify and arrange harmonies and fourteen months of 1 – 1 tuition has been like training for the Olympics. She is without doubt an extraordinary technical teacher as well as a brilliant singer who has stretched me in ways I never imagined.

The other Caravan members Fergus Quill, Jed Bevington and longstanding friend Rich Ferdi and like “The E Street Band” a tight brilliant musical unit. Guest musicians including Phil Doleman, John Burr, Dave Bowie Jnr, Adrian Knowles and Chris Smith have helped create a truly amazing set of tracks. These are significantly better musicians that myself and its a joy to play with them.

I have an idea for a new project which will require a huge creative leap and a massive amount of work. I’ll start on this after the Caravan of Dreams album launch May 11 and will be calling on old friends as well as some new musicians. Throughout all these explorations, my good friend Martin Simpson has been invaluable in his encouragement and inspiration. Martin is a brilliant example of never standing still and always pushing forward musically. I have realised that he has been a big influence on my own musical thinking and the attitude of “just going for it!”

I’m super grateful for all those who have supported me in these musical explorations. As Jerry Garcia once said “What a long strange trip its been” and its about to get way stranger with the next project as I leave any semblance of what remains a comfort zone into new musical territory.

Next project idea, old school recording…

I spent some of yesterday testing out the Ear Trumpet Myrtle mic in the studio with the Waterloo Collings guitar. The ear trumpet myrtle produces a fascinating sound and we did a quick demo of a few ideas I have for new tracks.

This reminds me massively of early Bob Dylan and its the simplest recording approach with one mic to capture all the sound. The Waterloo guitar sounds fantastic, like a really great old guitar and the myrtle captures vocals in a very different manner to anything I have come across previously. I have a few artists in mind for this project and am planning an EP which we will start recording later this year.

I already have a handful of songs in mind that would work really well with this old school style of recording