The Aviary. The Debut Solo Flight of Evert Snyman. By Luke Beckwith.
My oh my...
What an amazing year it's been for releases in South Africa.
Here’s another one for your collection.
Evert Snyman, a name you may recognise from local legends such as; Pollinator, Swandy, and everything in-between, has just released a debut solo-album.
Now...
This may come as a surprise to some of you.
To that, we say...
Surprise!
Happy listening!
Here's a bandcamp link. (You’re welcome.) If you don’t love great music, I’d suggest you click exit, now.
Editor's Note.
Better yet, rather than hitting the exit key, go to; "Computer/Windows(C;)/Windows/System32", hit 'Select All', and delete.
You fuckin' Boomer.
Pardon my french, but holy fuck does this album start with a bang. The first track is titled Nothing is Easy, and it really does flip tables in terms of expectations.
Starting with a beautiful harmonious intro, then suddenly reverting to a punchy; high-energy, face-melting chorus, it caught me off guard, to say the least . I’m fairly certain you’ll experience the same feeling I did.
Again - holy fuck.
From here it slows down (just a bit) with the album's second track, Dead Birds. I’d like to mention how insane the vocals are on this album. Hats off to Evert for the amazing production and instrumentation. We’re crazy stoked to see what’s coming next!
On another note...
I’ve got a fever, and the only cure is cowbell. Guess you could say I’ve been remedied by some good old Dead Birds, just like mom used to make.
I was privileged enough to have found myself sitting in The Backline studios, co-owned and -run by Evert himself, discussing the finer details of his his latest concoction, "The Aviary."
I approached with two extremely broad questions.
How, and why.
Here’s why…
Evert explained the troubles he had recently been faced with and how he used the creation of this unearthly album as a means to cope, overcome and transform this turmoil into something beautiful.
Some real talk - there’s a lesson in here that we could all learn from - I’ll leave it for you to stew on.
Moving on to how; at first this question may seem to be nonsensical, but bear with me. Warning: nerd shit incoming!
I was shown the setup as well as the sessions of a good half of the tracks on The Aviary. I was absolutely blown away by the attention to detail and the sorcery of Evert's signal chain. The aspects of “how” bounced all over the place; from snare drum tuning. to vocal stacking, to you-name-it-he-did-it, and all of this ending with me blasting it through my car speakers on the way home, and with Andre most likely doing the same while he was driving behind me.
Let’s travel through time together, some three songs into the future. This lands us at the start of Cut Your Wings Off, the fifth track from The Aviary. Right off the bat we’re smacked in the face by an oh-so-sensual bass tone, with a weirdly catchy phrasing. This reminds me a lot of the tasty bassline found in Serpent’s Stance on Pollinators latest release, Mothball Deities. One thing for me that stood out on the entire album thus far; is the punchy, powerful snare drum - I can imagine Rocky’s brain being rocked in and out of existence with every hit. Bringing me back to how.
It was explained to Andre and I that; all it takes is, even pressure and no wrinkles on the head. Sure made me feel like a tool for spending so many hours tuning kits, only for them all to ultimately sound emptier than Hitler's Christmas stockings, compared this 20 minute slice of pure gold. Listen to both Mothball Deities and The Aviary, you’ll hear it… Here’s an easter egg - happy belated Halloween!
I’m not here to tell you about every song; I’m here to give you a compass and let it point you to where you want to get to. If you’re anything like me, you probably wanna be at the end of this tracklist. That being said, another hop lands us on the seventh track. No One Wants To Be Alone. I love how this album can completely switch between heavy psych, and full on road-trip music. Remind me to add this one to my trippin’ playlist! The transitions are seamless and, as a whole, No One Wants To Be Alone proves to be yet another great tune.
This seems like a good time to credit those deserving of it.
Firstly, a massive high-five to Evert for the soulful writing, recording and production. You poured our heart out, and it really shows. Number two on our list (in no particular order), is Scarlotte Will’s Xan Swart, who layed down one motherfucker of a drum track in Lambasting Again. Following this; is Them Dirty Shrikes’s Stiaan Du Preez. for some crazy guitar sounds on Avoiding The Matinee and Disquietude. Finally, let's give a hand to Apocalypse Later’s Christiaan Van Renen, for playing keys on Avoiding The Matinee.
Let's hear a round of appluase to all of these amazing artists, for helping bring this masterpiece to life.
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| Photo by Shawn Taylor. |
On to the final track I’ll be touching on…
Please note: No words will ever do a song or album justice.
In order to really feel it, there's only one thing to do…
There are several strategically placed links within this article. Do yourself a massive favour and go have a listen for yourself.
Anyhoo!
Lambasting Again (my personal favourite track off of The Aviary) I stand firm in the belief that the tone speaks for itself, and so does the composition. I’ll leave the rest up to you to decide. It really is a beautiful thing... How two people can listen to the same song, and leave with completely different interpretations.
Stay classy, Local Band Scene.
Luke, and Dystopia.
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