Welcome back to ‘A Dave in The Life’ for installment number two! It’s been a long time coming. I hope you’ve had a happy Easter time and a good spring so far. Thanks for sticking with me and hopefully not moving this to the junk folder since my first email…
The last 6 or so weeks were strange for me and I didn’t have much news to share. I struggled with the persistent March rain and dark cloudy skies, impatiently waiting for the new season. During this time I was mostly hibernating, beavering away on a new album I’ve been recording over the past two years, and I’ve made good progress on it. Thankfully spring has now sprung, bringing with it better weather and longer, lighter days. So I come to you with news of some fun things that have been happening or are soon to happen!
ACOUSTIC EP
Just before Christmas 2022, I spent a day with my friend and producer/engineer/all round great musician Jake Scarborough in his Bristol studio. We recorded acoustic versions of all 5 tracks from my 2021 EP ‘Home, Come Home’, capturing live takes of my vocal and acoustic guitar parts together. I then fleshed out these recordings at home by adding some subtle instrumental textures but aiming to keep them as minimal and stripped back as possible.
I released Bewilderness (acoustic version) from this session as a sort-of-Christmas single before the end of last year and will release all 5 tracks together as an acoustic EP in the coming months. The next single will be Saw You In The Crowd (acoustic version) coming out on the 17th of May which you can ‘pre-save’ here if you’d like to. I think these versions are special as they show how the ideas started out in my head before I got carried away and recorded loads of layers on top… It’s nice to hear the basic guitar chords and lyrics, just highlighting the songwriting itself which I’m very proud of.
The artwork for this acoustic EP is below.
NOVO AMOR
This week, I returned to Ali’s studio in Wales to rehearse with the Novo Amor live band ahead of our UK and Ireland dates starting this weekend. We haven’t played together since the end of our US tour in Los Angeles, October 2022, so it was great to reunite and remind ourselves how to play the set…
The tour starts this Sunday in Manchester and I’m very excited to get back on the road and finish off this rescheduled run! It’ll be great to travel around the UK and see lots of friends and family on our way.
Also, it was announced recently that we will be performing at All Points East Festival in London this summer on Sunday 27th August, and will be heading to Australia and Singapore for some shows in December this year. To see the full list of live tour dates, head to the Novo Amor website. All very exciting!
NEWS
Here’s a few little highlights from recent weeks, and also looking ahead:
My very good friend, bandmate, collaborator, and expert music producer Rowan Bishop released an excellent lo-fi instrumental EP under his moniker ‘lowmidhigh’ titled All and/or Nothing. I played trumpet and trombone on the beautiful track Harm’s Way. The whole thing is well worth a listen here on Spotify
I will be performing a solo set of my own music at a street party in Bristol on the day of the King’s coronation (Saturday 6th of May). I’ll be on around 4pm, outside the aptly named Coronation pub in Southville
Lowswimmer has now released 3 singles from his upcoming album Red-Eye Effect, all of which I played trombone and sang backing vocals on. The full album comes out on the 19th of May and you can listen to the singles so far here on Spotify
THAT’S IT, FOR NOW
I’m really looking forward to the Novo Amor tour over the next fortnight and will be sure to write a little about it afterwards. There’s also lots of new music coming out next month that I’ve worked on with various artists and am excited to share with you. But that’s it, for now... I hope you enjoy the rest of April and I’ll see you in the May issue!
Until next time, take care.
DJH.
CULTURAL HIGHLIGHTS
Last book I finished:
John Williams - Stoner (good but don’t read when feeling down about life)
Currently reading:
Roger Deakin - Waterlog (a cheery book, thankfully)
Albums I’ve enjoyed:
feeble little horse - Hayday
Billie Marten - Drop Cherries
The Longcut - A Call and Response
boygenius - the record (full album, finally!)
LYR - Call In The Crash Team (poet-laureate-Simon-Armitage-fronted indie band)
Lichen Slow - Rest Lurks
Film & TV I’ve enjoyed:
Broker (great south Korean film)
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Navalny (great doc, strongly recommend)
Normal People (on iPlayer)
Stewart Lee: Snowflake & Tornado (on iPlayer)