With Fonda 500 playing their final gig at the end of 2023, we’ve now reached the point where all of the bands interviewed in the first ever edition of Joyzine back in 2003 have called it a day. Sad as that is, it doesn’t mean they’ve all stopped making music and many new and wonderful projects have sprung from the members of those acts, including the solo work of former Black Nielson frontman Mike Gale, who today releases his 21st album Hey Presto.
The record is described as “a swirling, ambient, dreamscape of an album. Inspired by the more psychedelic side of The Beach Boys, the surreal work of David Lynch and the creakiness of Sparklehorse,” and today we have for you the exclusive first chance to see the video for lead single ‘Unsteady’, which takes Gale’s propensity for dreamy melody and warps it into abstract shapes. It’s a world away from the indie folk sound that first drew us to Black Nielson more than two decades ago, keeping Gale’s music vital and fascinating, as he explains:
“After making music for so long I have to find ways to keep myself entertained and to discover new ways of recording etc. I always aim to push myself out of my comfort zone and to not repeat my previous work.
My good friend who goes by the musical name of Whydardii asked me to add my voice to a couple of his beautiful instrumental compositions and so I found myself improvising vocal takes on the spot. I had such a good time recording this way that I decided to repeat the process for my own work. Only one of the songs on the album has lyrics, the rest are just melodies that came out as I recorded them. I forced myself to use the first take of any vocal so it was as pure as possible. I wanted to create something that was like being half awake in a liminal space.“
Watch the exclusive premiere of ‘Unsteady’ below.
Hey Presto is available as a digital download via Bandcamp
Follow Mike Gale on Facebook / Twitter / Instagram
Introduction by Paul Maps
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