águas brilhantes: 2018-2022
fiffdimension vol4, a compilation summing up the work from my early 40s, exploring my Scottish, English and Portuguese ancestry, and first few years living in the Wairarapa:
“We go from bossa nova rhythms to folk to RIO to indie to, what is interesting listening if nothing else, a dog howling along to a banjo […] It is unusual to find someone playing so confidently in such diverse areas and anyone into independent music will certainly find something on here to enjoy.”Kevin Rowland
2022
a productive year here… we’ve made two albums by
The Troubled Times
Masterton band ft Antony Milton , now a trio with David Heath on drums;
Negentropic Diatribes – w/ James Robinson
and a multimedia spoken word + improvised music collaboration with award-winning painter James Robinson ; (a semi return to the style of my solo albums from 20 years prior)
“I like it as a intunal thoughtthread outloud with phrases that wriggle with sounds that wobble. Dave Edwards is quite good at this… and its to his professional and integrity driven playful collaborative openness that arts breathe in the smoggy clutter of the dense forest of synthetic posed narratives. Hmm, good on you guys – may th gods be with you”
James Robinson
and an album of solo instrumentals and dog duets–
2021
The Troubled Times
Started as a duo with Antony Milton in Masterton, NZ
2020
Dave Black solo EP Glimpses of Utopia
Ruasagavulu
by Dave Black & Snake Beings in Fiji
Made in Fiji, with Dr Emit Snake-Beings – tropical avant-garde instrumentals for keyboards, ukulele, dholak, duduk, harmonicas, DIY kitchen gamelan, and video.
“So easy to get totally lost in this music, recommend for helping with your inner peace”
– Andi Verse
John Collie‘s poem ‘Solitude‘, written in 1856 and recorded in 2020, also features on
Psi-solation: a global compilation of music made in lockdown
“Something about this global pandemic is inspiring people to create and/or curate art on a massive scale…. and this compilation, being offered for free/name-yr-price, is indeed M A S S I V E.” – Howard Seltzer
2019
Live 2019
A return to solo acoustic performance, and my first live-streamed internet gig, at Wairarapa TV
2018
The Other Islands: 2012-2018 compilation received some career-best reviews:
“The 20 song album covers traditional Javanese and Balinese gamelan, Asia-Pacific folk music, free jazz, and free noise…. If you have an open inquiring mind and love hearing a variety of sound, this is excellent. – Darryl Baser, muzic.net.nz“
The last five (of the 20) tracks were recorded in 2018 – each in a different genre:
* a new Indonesia-inspired electro-acoustic collaboration with Emit Snake-Beings
* a solo acoustic song written by my great-great-grandfather
* a Wairarapa psychedelic country folk jam with Nat da Hatt
* a Wairarapa free noise electric drone with Campbell Kneale, maestro of the genre
(an excerpt from our full-length noise duo album, A Ton of Feathers)
* and concluding with a Fijian folk song, inspired by my visits to Fiji in 2016 and 2018
By this time I’d turned 40 and, driven out of Wellington by the absurdity of the NZ housing market, moved to the Wairarapa –
the Electricka Zoo played in Featherston, our last gig (to date)
Escape Velocity (Live 2018) The Electricka Zoo
I also began to experiment with animated visuals:
and, on the other hand discovered an ancestor who had come to the Wairarapa long before me, and who would inspire a next major project…
A Ton of Feathers (2018) Campbell Kneale & Dave Black
Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856)
In 1856, my great-great-grandfather John Collie (1834-1893), of Boyndie, Scotland, published a book : Poems and Lyrics
“T’were a noble sight to see the mighty men of old, who bled that their countries might be free from the tyrants’ fatal hold – yet I’d deem it a nobler sight by far to behold the sons of the harp & lyre!“
John Collie (1834-1893)
I started setting some the poems to music over the past few years – along with some of his other descendants: my nephews Hans and Rhys Landon-Lane, my niece Celeste Rochery, and my sister Megan Edwards-Rochery .
fiffdimension 