Yesterday, I sent out another exclusive mix for our Premium Newsletter subscribers (Folk Radio Insider Extra – 19 June 2022 – premium subscribers can find it here) which opens with a track by Wren Hinds, an artist from South-East Africa.
Hailing from the South-east coast of Kwazulu-Natal, South Africa, Wren Hinds grew up with a musician for a father and a landscape painter for a mother. As a kid, watching his dad recording and overdubbing inspired Wren to keep a tape recorder with him, recording whatever and wherever he could. Later, he would compare the layering of instruments and textures to the mediums and paints of his mother’s chosen artform. For Wren, songwriting became “painting with sound”, using light, shade and a sense of space to communicate powerful impressions and feelings.
After first hearing him, I was surprised at how long he has been flying under the radar, only a handful of people seemed to have purchased the release on Bandcamp here he also has two previous releases (Tragedy Hill from 2018 and A Thousand Hearts from 2020). The track I opened the mix to was the title track of his seven-track release A Child’s Chant for the New Millennium which was originally released in 2020. Wren co-wrote a number of the songs with photographer, graphic artist and poet Keith Erasmus. He is joined by Tefo Mahola (drums) and Rob O’Brien (bass).
In his own words: “At the end of 2019 through early 2020 I buried myself amongst instruments, wires, synths, guitars and whatever I could get my hands on, I lost myself in the layering of textures, sounds and vocal overtones, armed with the scribbles of a couple new songs, ‘A Child’s Chant’ was born”.
All of the songs on this release have been lovingly crafted. Wren Hinds music is beautifully nuanced, the more you listen, the more it grows on you…like a warm glow.
Those powerful impressions and feelings he spoke of will now reach a wider audience thanks to Simon Raymonde at Bella Union who is to release A Child’s Chant for the New Millennium, along with his two previous albums, on vinyl under their Private Pressing Imprint. Needless to say, Wren Hind is totally over the moon. He shared the following on his blog:
Around 2012 I stumbled upon a compilation titled ‘White Winter Hymnals – 15 brilliant tracks from the Bella Union Label’, my brother had a copy, it was one of those Uncut Magazine compilations, this one however was something special, each and every track on this mixtape seemed to have been carefully & thoughtfully curated and I remember being blown away by what I heard, the voices, sounds and textures, one song after the other, artist after artist, so blown away in fact that I had this sense we were entering into a new ‘golden age’ of music. The compilation featured and introduced me to the likes of Fleet Foxes, Midlake, Explosions in the Sky, Andrew Bird, Vetiver, Beach House to name a few, and since then I had filled my cup with M Ward, John Grant and Father John Misty, artists who I took an immediate liking to.
Little did my 23 year old self back then know that someday I would be joining that very family of incredible artists, and it gives me the greatest pleasure to announce that I’ve officially signed with Bella Union, and I couldn’t be happier to have found the perfect home and family for my work. It is indeed a truly beautiful union and I can only look forward to the journey ahead!
Bella Union will be releasing all three of my previous solo records in the form of limited edition vinyl pressings through their new imprint Private Pressings which will be consecutively released in readiness for the incoming 4th full length album which is well underway!
Simon Raymonde of Bella Union shared the following about the Private Pressing Imprint: “I wanted to start releasing some brand new artists via our new imprint Private Pressing, a limited vinyl-only eco-friendly edition, working with DeepGrooves who claim to be ‘the world’s greenest pressing plant’. These pressings will be limited to 200-300 copies and only available through the artists’ Bandcamp pages, our own vinyl and online store”.
I’ll leave you with another jewel from the album…The Pearl:
Order it here: https://wrenhinds.bandcamp.com/