2025 roundup

Another productive year here! We released:

Ruasagavulu ka lima (Fiji)

An acoustic solo album, made in the Yasawa islands, Fiji. Ukulele and field recordings, with acoustic bass and percussion.

Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856)

A musical adaptation of my ancestor’s book, finally ‘close enough’ to finished after seven years… or 169, depending how you count it.

in the Scotch Dialect

in the English Dialect

Featherston Free Sound Ensemble

A new collaboration with turntablists Guy Walker and Alex Vfree improv electronica for the regions.

Live @ the Bakehouse 29-11-25

Our live debut – more to come in 2026!

Experiments Under the Hills

October-November, with Guy Walker and Alex V

First Experiments

September-October, with Guy Walker

The Troubled Times

with Antony Milton and David Heath in Masterton NZ.

Unsteady Ground

As close as we’ve come to a ‘political’ album

dDA

We swapped instruments and almost formed a new band.

Homo Homini Lupus

We appeared on this ‘various artists’ compilation from Louisville, Kentucky

Sparkle Tube

Dave and Antony duo

Smudge

Winter was too cold for the garage, so we played ‘lounge music’

Thanks for listening! See you in 2026...

Poems & Lyrics (in the English dialect) (1856)

Songs of the seasons, the forest and the sea, home and exile, mortality and immortality:

an adaptation of the book, Poems and Lyrics (in the English and Scotch dialects) by John Collie, of Boyndie (1834-1893), with music by his descendants in New Zealand, between 2020-2025

Listen

“Songs from the harp and lyre – a fantastic flow back from the ancient days” – Dr Emit Snake-Beings

The album includes collaborations with my nephew Hans Landon-Lane, plus guest appearances by Antony Milton and Dr Emit Snake-Beings.

“I have been lucky enough to hear some of Dave Edwards work on this at a couple of shows – very cool concept project and worth a listen” – James Trotman

Background

My great-great-grandfather published his book in 1856, before emigrating to New Zealand for the rest of his life.

Discovering this family outsider art precedent in 2018 cast fiffdimension in a whole new light! It sparked a seven-year project to record musical arrangements of his poems for a new century’s audience.

“And with a trembling hand I launch my tiny vessel into the troubled ocean of literature , where many a noble craft has been shattered to pieces…”

Like his better-known countryman (and influence) Robert Burns, John Collie wrote in both English and Scots. The other half of the album is Poems & Lyrics in the Scotch Dialect

Continue reading “Poems & Lyrics (in the English dialect) (1856)”

Poems & Lyrics (in the Scotch dialect) (1856)

Songs of alcohol, death, the devil, rebellion, kinship, and love gone awry, from 19th century Scotland:

an adaptation of the book, Poems and Lyrics (in the English and Scotch dialects) by John Collie, of Boyndie (1834-1893),

with music by his descendants, between 2018-2025 in New Zealand and France.

Listen

“Songs from the harp and lyre – a fantastic flow back from the ancient days” – Dr Emit Snake-Beings

“I have been lucky enough to hear some of Dave Edwards work on this at a couple of shows – very cool concept project and worth a listen” – James Trotman

Background

“And with a trembling hand I launch my tiny vessel into the troubled ocean of literature , where many a noble craft has been shattered to pieces…”

Continue reading “Poems & Lyrics (in the Scotch dialect) (1856)”

Ruasagavulu ka lima (Fiji, 2025)

A suite of short acoustic instrumentals and Pacific islands tropical ambience – recorded in the Yasawa islands of Fiji.

Listen

About

Main tracks improvised outdoors on ukulele and lali (log drum), on Tavewa island, early April 2025. Acoustic bass and hand drum overdubbed after returning home.

Tracklist

1.Arrival / Bula Maleya 01:12
2.Lali kei Basa : iMatai ni Wase 01:58
3.Tawakilai 02:45
4.Ono walu: mataqali dua 03:07
5.Lali kei Basa: iKarua ni Wase 01:04
6.iMatai ni iVolatukutuku 03:39
7.Idabedabe me vesu 02:15
8.Na ikalawa ni yava 02:10
9.Ono walu: mataqali rua 02:45
10.Mai Ifrika 02:23
11.Vakaciri ena buca 01:03
12.Siga malumu 02:42
13.Vakacava 01:02
14.Koro ni uciwai 03:26
15.Vakadidike 01:07
16.Buli soro 01:15
17.Lali kei Basa: vakalevu 01:13
18.Qito ni bola 01:33
19.Bokola ni manu 04:25
20.Na vula 03:23
21.Mali 01:23
22.Na blue i Dua 02:28
23.Konei mai 02:17
24.Sau ni lesu 04:46
25.Elario Irava – Isa Lei Lia 04:38

Background

The title ‘Ruasagavulu ka lima‘ is the number 25 in Fijian;
this is a followup to the first Fijian album Ruasagavulu (2020), recorded in Suva w/ Emit Snake-Beings)

credits

releases June 21, 2025

‘Tevita’ Edwards – ukulele, lali, djembe, acoustic bass, field recordings
——————-

Recorded on Tavewa island, Yasawas, Fiji, early April 2025
Bass & drum overdubs recorded in Featherston NZ, April/May 2025

Continue reading “Ruasagavulu ka lima (Fiji, 2025)”

January 2025

Happy new year! So far, in the early weeks of 2025, I‘ve:

  • Played a live solo acoustic set, at the Wairarapa Songwriters’ Group night at Carterton Club on 11 January.

The Troubled Times

  • and on 26 January – music video by Antony Milton below, for a forthcoming album:

Adieu to Tweedside.

  • Recorded a new version for Poems & Lyrics by John Collie (1856). It includes acoustic bass and classical guitar. It’s set to the traditional Scottish tune ‘Skye Boat Song’, and starts with almost a doo-wop feel – before taking a darker turn, as the theme of bereavement is revealed:

Lyrics

Continue reading “January 2025”

2CD compilation 1998​-​2023

Celebrating 25 years of fiffdimension!

Electric (yang) / Acoustic (yin)

A collection of short tracks by Dave Edwards and collaborators.

Double disc collection of more than two decades’ worth of live and studio-recorded tunes by Dave Edwards, who you may have heard recently as part of The Troubled Times with Antony Milton. It’s quite a diverse listen!

You get some concise and catchy pop songs, some full-on rockers, banjo excursions, improv freak-out, poetry, acoustic blues, folk songs, scrambled noise… there’s something here for everybody. A good intro to Dave’s dauntingly deep discography.”

Howard Stelzer, Noisy Bandcamp.

Produced by Antony Milton; and features Paul Winstanley, Chris O’Connor, Simon O’Rorke,Chris Palmer, Sam Prebble, Mike Kingston, Francesca Mountfort, Damian Stewart, Emit Snake-Beings, Nat da Hatt, Steve Duffels, and Oscar (the dog).

2CD double album. 35 tracks spanning 25 years. Comes in gatefold card case with full colour photography by Jechtography and James Gilberd. Includes download of the digital album.

Review 

Electric (Yang)/Acoustic (Yin) boasts some wildly different tracks; short instrumentals (the guitar and percussion of King Street Boogie, the piano and birdsong of Tui and Grey Sky, the guitar, rain, and bucket- possibly oboe too- of Classical Rain Bucket), song-length instrumentals (the gorgeous and floaty Kalbarri Coastline, the spaced-out psychedelia of Shuffling The TarotOctober Rings sweet little guitar melody being countered by its evil twin sowing dissent and discord), spoken word over free-forming instruments (After The Filmshoot describing either a spiritual experience or very good drugs… or both, @Bomb The Space sounding like a guitar being attacked, Ornery Return Cravings spoken over sheer instrumental chaos), and occasionally, songs too (the stripped-back post-punk glory of Tony Was Here, the slithery, smoky, speakeasy feel of Cafes In ConversationInverno creeping in like a fever-dream of The Cramps, and the beautiful, emotionally-charged Paetumokai (Pua pua i te Koanga)). Dave Edwards is a thoughtful and talented writer, composer, and performer. This double album ably demonstrates that, from the soft, delightful guitar ramblings on Stromatolites, to Wealth And Riches that sounds for all the world like a battle to the death between a drumkit and a horde of toy robots.

“He doesn’t seem to so much want to push boundaries, as to act like he’s never heard of boundaries in the first place. At times soft and beautiful, at others dark and jarring, it makes for fascinating listening.” – Peter Malthus, muzic.nz

Continue reading “2CD compilation 1998​-​2023”

Autumn (by John Collie, 1856)

It’s the first day of autumn (2023) here in the southern hemisphere (good riddance to Cyclone Gabrielle, which caused devastation in other parts of the North Island), so here’s a track from Poems & Lyrics (in the English Dialect) (1856):

Lyrics

AGAIN old Autumn murmurs from the hill , His annual toils already are begun ; His angry blast howls down the fertile vale , Gust after gust with melancholy moan .

Continue reading “Autumn (by John Collie, 1856)”

águas brilhantes: 2018​-​2022

“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 (Oscar’s Blues) […] and songs taken from Poems & Lyrics (in the Scotch dialect) (1856)where Dave paid tribute to his ancestor John Collie who wrote a book of poems more than 150 years ago.

“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 – Kev Rowland, muzic.nz

Listen

About

águas brilhantes (or ‘glistening waters’ in English) is the Portuguese translation of Wairarapa, the Māori name of the region where I’ve lived the last few years.

My ancestors arrived here in the 19th century – one was a Scottish poet, another a stowaway from the Azores islands.

This compilation includes pieces inspired by the region and my ancestors, and new and old collaborators – including a torch-passing to younger members of my family.

Credits1

by Dave Edwards – guitars, bass, banjo, harmonica, vocal, lyrics

with

released December 22, 2022

Tracklist

1.Nat da Hatt + James Robinson + Dave Black – June’s Lounge, part 2 02:08
2.The Electricka Zoo – Inverno (live at Escape Velocity, 2018) 03:47
3.Campbell Kneale + fiffdimension – Both Chords 02:07
4.Celeste Rochery – My Native Land (John Collie, 1856) 01:56
5.The Blast of a Wintry Day (John Collie, 1856 – live at Wairarapa TV, 2019) (bonus) 03:44
6.Clever Hansel – Sonnet on Summer (John Collie, 1856) 03:19
7.snakebeings + fiffdimension – Walu (Fiji) 03:02
8.snakebeings + fiffdimension – Io (Fiji) 01:31
9.Larry Irava – Isa Lei Lia (Fiji) 04:38
10.Ilhas Atlânticas (Manuel José Bernard, das Flores, 1862) 03:12
11.Here’s a Health to my Cronies (John Collie, 1856) 02:46
12.Auld Satan when ye first gae through (John Collie, 1856) 02:02
13.Logistical Torrents (lockdown 2020) 03:07
14.Guitar Ringtone 02:07
15.The Troubled Times – Blinking in Daylight (return of the sun, 2021) 03:05
16.Clever Hansel – The Land of my Youth (John Collie, 1856) 03:57
17.The Troubled Times – Wairarapa Bossa Nova 03:18
18.James Robinson + fiffdimension – Old Brain (metadada of Oceania remembering) 03:21
19.The Troubled Times – The Dying Monarch (John Collie, 1856) 03:05
20.Ilhas novos (do sul) 01:20
21.Classical Rain Bucket 01:41
22.James Robinson + The Troubled Times – The Edge (a Negentropic Diatribe) 03:25
23.Tony Was Here (live at the Miracle Room, 2022) 03:25
24.Oscar – Oscar’s Blues 01:28
25.By my faith sirs, this canna lang dee (John Collie, 1856) 04:04
26.さくらさくら / Paetumokai (Pua pua i te Kōanga) 02:10
27.O Henry Ending (live at the Miracle Room, 2022) 08:00

Features previously unreleased recordings, and tracks from

Further listening: the albums

Continue reading “águas brilhantes: 2018​-​2022”

The Winter: Shortest Days 2003-2015

A compilation by Wellington NZ free improv trio The Winter

Simon Sweetman – drums, percussion

Mike Kingston – guitars, cello (2-5), clarinet (7,11,14), charango (7,10)

Dave Edwards – guitars, vocal (3), harmonica (4,7,9), banjo (7), ukulele (7,9,11), saxophone (10,14), piano (10), bass (12,13), electronics (6,8,13)

Wellington, New Zealand,
free improv music trio, formed on winter solstice day June 2003.

An archive compilation,

Continue reading “The Winter: Shortest Days 2003-2015”

Spastic Rhythms ’22 (2022)

Featherston, NZ – early 2022 – spontaneous compositions, two wet weekends in a row.

Listen

A sequel to Spastic Rhythms vol 1 (2021)

  • second in a series of ‘quickfire’ DIY solo albums, created in a couple of days each.
  • This one features interspecies guest collaboration with Oscar the huntaway.

credits

Oscar and Dave

Dave Black – guitars, bass, banjo (2), clarinet (6), sanshin (10), loop pedal, e-drum

Oscar – vocal (3,9)

released February 13, 2022

Tracklist

1.Drums on Waitangi Day 00:54
2.Estado Novo 01:20
3.Oscar – Oscar’s Blues 01:28
4.fiffdimension / snakebeings – Arising (into Fragments) 03:51
5.Black Mountain (Црна Гора) 00:59
6.Shuffling the Tarot 03:39
7.Classical rain bucket 01:41
8.Rebooting 02:52
9.Oscar – At home pants ft. cannon bone 02:12
10.Removing a bandaid 00:51
11.Shuri Jo (琉球諸島) 01:03
12.Waiting for Dovi 05:24

Further listening

águas brilhantes: 2018-2022

A compilation of tracks from the Wairarapa in these years.

“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 – Kev Rowland, muzic.nz