The Everlovin’ Wind (2023)

My first album since 2014’s “Back of the line” is out across all platforms on Nov 22nd, via Shoreline Songs. “The Everlovin’ Wind” has a bunch of influences… country surf rock, uptempo, rockpop, maskandi and blues.

I produced it in Kalk Bay over 5 months, over the Cape winter. Some of the songs are recent, some 15 years old or older..I’ve been playing I’m sorry” for 25 years or so. With the assistance of the SAMRO MCSF initiative and Shoreline Songs, it was tracked with the musicians for each song that I had heard in my head for years, and also have wonderful contributions from incoming musicians like Mark Fransman, Rikku Latti, Andy Lund, Dan Shout and Rayelle Goodman.

I’d like to say that the album was super easy and it all just rolled. But the truth is, most of the songs had to be wrestled to the ground like rhinos. The textures and arrangements I had in my head took time. Normally you’d have an engineer and/or a producer saying “yeah not sure about that”, helping you at the myriad forks in the road that you come to on every production decision. As this was mainly a solitary exercise, I was glad to have the advice of friends whose advice I trusted…such as Arno Carstens (who I can thank for the handclaps on Underground) and Andy Lund.

I didn’t have to worry much about the rhythm section. On drums was Paul Tizzard, Kevin Gibson and Jonno Sweetman, with bass duties shared between Schalk Joubert and Roger Bashew. We tracked the drums and bass in our front room, with another session out in Somerset West at Schalk Joubert’s house. Further instrumental and vocal tracking went down in Kalk Bay, along with backing vocal sessions featuring Wendy Oldfield, Nhoza Sitsholwana, Tonia Moller and Fancy Galada.

Stylistically, apart from my usual territory of roots influences, I paid homage to some my longest influences on some songs. “I’m sorry” is a LA noir type instrumental which I would have liked to see in an LA gumshoe detective movie.

My admiration for Joni Mitchell and Steely Dan is also evident on songs such as “Landscape Girl” and “Bays of Blue”, and guitar is featured a fair amount throughout the album. Lyrically the themes are also varied… “Weaverbird” is a story of the gnarly old surf dudes who shaped boards in garages and lived in kombis, drifting up and down the coast. They also used to look after us lighties in the days when surfing was still an underground activity and no-one was making money from it. The first single, “Underground”, is about old friendships, and how being anti-establishment eventually turns into its own orthodoxy (https://youtu.be/7E8qNDO_lAU).

“Zambia”, while with a geographical location, is about family disintegration. “More than a country mile” is about how, even in long standing relationships, we can still elude each other and remain a mystery. “All about a boy” is about the silly things people can fall out over, “Lines of fun” is also a nostalgic surf theme (https://youtu.be/eP4nmYrdHZ0), and “Sunny Skies” I wrote shortly after James Phillips died.

Mastered by Tim Lengfeld , the album is available on all streaming services and Bandcamp for downloads. More info at at www.facebook.com/robinauldmusic, www.robinauld.com or instagram.com/robinauldmusic.

Back of the Line (2014)

“Back of the Line” is the new album, my first release for 3 years, and is the 9th release on Free Lunch Productions. Blues, roots and folk influences go into the singer/songwriter pot.

“Back of the line”, the first single, has me wondering if my time is up by means of a visit from a shark. Modern issues of faith and religion are addressed in “Caleb’s calling” and “The old book”, the traditional live staple of “Corrinna” is given a fresh treatment and the blues sentiment of “Save a little something” is given a wrong turn as is the Bee Gee’s song “Holiday”. “Red Ground” gives a take on the life of Mary Livingstone, and the album ends on the foolishly optimistic and upbeat note of “Say the word.”

Recorded over the first half of 2014, the twelve tracks feature Roger Bashew on bass and Paul Tizzard on drums. The rhythm tracks were laid down in Hout Bay at Roger’s Turkeyberry studios, with further tracking and mixing at Robin’s home studio in Kalk Bay. Tom Fox of Bright Blue fame, out for a visit from New Zealand, laid down some guitar tracks on “Say the word” and “Bones never lie”, while Ronan Skillen provided tabla, udu and other various percussion elements. The album will be available on download from iTunes from November, and on CD via mail order from www.robinauld.co.za from the 17th October.