Emotions in perfect harmony
Musical chameleon Warren Maxwell brings the latest in a string of diverse projects to Nelson on Sunday. Alan Clarke reports
Expect searing, intricate Antipodean melodies. Count on intimate, soul-laidbare vulnerability in three-part harmony. Share a laugh, shed a tear, wallow in musical intimacy.
Warren Maxwell has never been one to kick back. An extraordinarily diverse musical career has already brought us underground roots, Pacifica dub, raw and dirty psychedelic guitarthrashing rock, and involvement in a whole show built around percussion. He’s collaborated with some serious classical composers, co-composed the concerto Pounamu, worked with symphony and philharmonic orchestras and helped front pioneering television series Songs From the Inside, which took a songwriting programme into Rimutaka prison.
Now, on Sunday, his latest project takes to a stage for the first time – a harmony-based collaboration with Mark Vanilau, who has put in serious time with Dave Dobbyn’s band, played on Hollie Smith’s album and with Ladi6 and Scribe, and solo singer-songwriter guitarist Louis Baker.
Vanilau – Maxwell – Baker has been some time in the gestation, says Maxwell during a brief break in rehearsals this week.
‘‘I’ve kind of had this idea for a few years now about creating an entity, a waka I like to call it . . . and rather than being a band it’s an entity where singerssongwriters come and go as they’re available.’’
The three draw inspiration from harmony-based bands of the late 1960s and 1970s.
‘‘That’s what switched me on to the idea, watching a lot of Crosby, Stills and Nash on YouTube. There was so many of those groups back then; they really worked their harmonies . . . Steely Dan, for example, but especially Crosby, Stills and Nash.’’
The waka’s maiden ‘‘voyage’’ comes in Nelson as part of the School of Music Winter Arts Festival. The trio’s basic format will be to showcase a selection of the three individual composers’ songs, weaving in harmonies and adding their fellow musos’ ‘‘individual flavours’’ to the mix.
‘‘Because this is Mark and Louis’ first foray out into the national circuit as solo artists, a lot of their songs may not be familiar. It’ll be a debuting of their material.’’
Maxwell says the rehearsals are proving the validity of the idea.
‘‘Right from day one . . . the very first song, we were almost in tears at how our voices kind of fit together.
‘‘There’s a bit of discipline needed when you get three lead vocalists, and you’ve got to work out the harmonies, create some space and weave your voice in between the other two.
‘‘Some of the songs are quite intricate as well. They’re not just your three-chord, sing-at-a-party type of thing. There are a lot of contrapuntal-blimmin’ melodies that move, but it’s good, and we’re hoping the audience will appreciate the vulnerabilities in there.’’
Maxwell performing Music.
‘‘I’ve always enjoyed playing there when we get to Nelson. I had a gig down there a couple of years ago with Strike and it’s an awesome feel. says he loves at the School of
‘‘All that wood for acoustics is great. And I can’t wait to hear Mark get on that beautiful grand piano.’’
While the audience can expect a largely unplugged, acoustic vibe, Maxwell says there’ll be plenty of contemporary elements. ‘‘I’m playing a cajon instead of a drumkit, and various guitars, a banjo . . .’’
He says the approach to choosing material was a bit ‘‘selfish’’.
‘‘If I was sitting in the audience, what would I love to hear? And especially in this current economic climate you have to give the audience a good show, something special. Mostly what we’re looking at is . . . they’re very intimate, very emotional, quite soulful songs, really, more of an intimate evening rather than a ‘moshpit’ kind of feel.’’
And if that evokes an emotional response, good.
‘‘They say it’s quite healthy to shed a tear . . . and anyway, it’s an emotional roller-coaster kind of thing cos the next song could be a banjo-driven hoedown.’’