Our Song of the Day comes from Tim Rivers, a name I only became aware of very recently. Tim shared some of his personal background below, as well as a bit about the song. He mentions about capturing the immediacy and spontaneity in performance something that can be clearly heard on Echoes. A heartfelt delivery from a name I hope to hear more from soon.
“I grew up playing guitar alongside my brother and sister. We were mad about Jimi Hendrix, and I still really love his bluesy earthy style. There’s an endearing vulnerability in his voice on songs like ‘Little Wing’ and ‘Angel’, and his ability to improvise was absolutely incredible.
“I was brought up in Shropshire, and there was a really friendly and encouraging community of musicians there when I was growing up. I had a very supportive music teacher at school who encouraged us to listen to everything from Italian opera to rhythm and blues. He involved the students in setting up a little recording space and created all sorts of opportunities to learn, collaborate and perform.
“As an adult, I gravitated towards the steel-strung acoustic guitar. I like to play without a pick, and sometimes I’ll tune the guitar to alternative tunings which can create a really big and full sound. For many years I experimented with snippets of song ideas, which I’d capture on a handheld recorder. Gradually I’m finding a way to form complete songs without losing that initial spark of an idea.
“I guess that the song ‘Echoes’ is about the pain of letting go of a relationship that isn’t working. The lyrics were still forming when I came to the session, and that gives the performance a bit more immediacy and spontaneity than a song that has settled. I have tried various ways, but I like to record the vocal and guitar at the same time, without a guide track. It helps to convey the feel of the song.
“I’m looking forward to capturing and releasing more recordings over the coming months.
“Many thanks to Audio Engineer Liam Ross, who is based in Cardiff, for mixing and recording this session.”
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