SPINNING MAN
A SIX-TRACK SONG AND SONIC JOURNEY BY M.E. BAIRD WITH JAMIE TREVASKIS.
M.E. Baird with Jamie Trevaskis has created and recorded an astonishing set of songs and soundscapes comprising this left-of-centre, immersive, cinematic recording.
As a singer-songwriter, M.E. Baird has always been driven by a love for words and a deep reverence for how words and language can be expressed in song and how to support them sonically. Jamie Trevsakis who possesses an unfathomable depth of sonic creativity and skills as a composer, musician and producer has created the perfect foil to M.E. Baird's words and sparse melodies.
The name 'Spinning Man' came to M.E. Baird via a paragraph from Dylan Thoma's poem, The Authors Prologue.
'How I, a spinning man,
Glory also this star, bird
Roared, sea born, man torn, blood blest.
Hark: I trumpet the place,
From fish to jumping hill! Look:
I build my bellowing ark
To the best of my love
As the flood begins,
Out of the fountainhead
Of fear, rage red, manalive,
Molten and mountainous to stream
Over the wound asleep...'
(Extract from The Authors Prologue, Dylan Thomas. 1954)
The Writing and Recording of Spinning Man
Before writing and recording demos for Spinning Man, M.E. Baird was undergoing treatment for advanced and aggressive prostate cancer. COVID was also well underway. In between treatments, he would periodically walk with his elderly kelpie-greyhound dog 'Gracie' to the local cemetery on the highest hill of the New South Wales historic township of Bangalow. There he would wander through the aisles separated by religious domination and read aloud from various authors and poets to those silently resting in their undercrofts as the evening sun would slide from the distant horizon. These walks and readings were not only respites, they would inspire some of the songs that would eventually surface in Spinning Man.
Recording started in September 2022 in Jamie's studio, Tape-Land. The sessions took place in a series of short but intensive two-day sessions beginning on a Friday morning and ending on a Saturday evening. Tracking was done live with virtually no retakes. No other musicians were present or allowed. Jamie and M.E. Baird did all guitars, additional instrumentation, sounds and other obscure sonic gems in complete isolation free from outside ears and influences, with no gimmicks or trickery. The songs were completed sequentially and mixed on the day to capture and lock in their emotive and experimental power. These days of intense creative immersion at Tape-Land upon Mt Nebo would represent some of the most fulfilling and satisfying sessions for Jamie and M.E. Baird.
Below, M.E. Baird & Jamie Trevaskis., Brisbane 2024. (credit Vladimir Roudakov)
