Nick DiSalvo Announces Delving Album Hirschbrunnen Due in May
Man that’s a clumsy headline. Nevertheless, we press on.
One can only imagine how refreshing it might be for someone like Nick DiSalvo of Elder to compose music without any expectation of what shape it might ultimately take. Of course that’s never really, really possible in a world of subjective experience, but these things are relative, and if Delving — also stylized low-caps: delving — were Elder, there would be significant baggage with that in terms of what the audience expects. I’m not saying I’ve heard the entirety of Hirschbrunnen or anything — the album will see release in May through Stickman Records — but the moniker chosen for the project is fairly tongue-in-cheek. DiSalvo doesn’t so much delve into the world of lush and progressive rock that he’s creating across the album’s near-hour-long run as he does dive in headfirst. And if there’s any expectation it’s fair to place on Hirschbrunnen, it would probably be that.
My guess is DiSalvo will be surprised how much of Elder‘s fanbase digs on what he’s doing in channeling some of his pandemic-era restlessness and longstanding proggy/fusion tendencies into a collection of its own, and with just how much Delving feels like a culmination of where his journey has taken him to this point, so too is it a beginning. As I said above, must be refreshing.
And hey, nice to see Richard Behrens (Wedge, Heat, ex-Samsara Blues Experiment, etc.) at Big Snuff involved with the recording.
From the PR wire:
Nick DiSalvo (ELDER) To Release DELVING Solo-Album!
Hirschbrunnen out this Spring on Stickman Records!
For many who lived through it, 2020 will forever be the year that time stopped. Especially for those who thrive in packed, sweaty environment – musicians, concertgoers, even humble record label operators – this led to some pretty fundamental changes in the way we spent our time. Enough with the platitudes: delving is a new project by Nick DiSalvo (better known as the frontman of Elder and one half of Gold & Silver) long in the making but finally taking off in this dreaded year where creativity was relegated exclusively to one’s own domain.
DiSalvo elaborates:
“I’m an almost obsessive songwriter, working on music every day and amassing a huge collection of song fragments and ideas that often don’t get the attention I’d like because of the time I spend with my main band. ‘Thanks’ to this pandemic, I’ve had plenty of time to pick up some of the songs I’ve written over the past years and finally make an album that I’ve been telling myself forever I’d do.
From my earliest moments as a musician, I have been obsessed with home recordings, begging my parents for a Tascam 4-track cassette recorder for Christmas when I was 12 and making my own albums. delving is a continuation of this creative spirit: experimenting all on my own, forgetting bands, fans and expectations and making whatever music I want to.”
The debut album Hirschbrunnen will be released in May 2021 through Stickman Records. It is a collection of songs that display a wide range of influences from psychedelic rock, early electronic music, 70’s prog as well as jazz and even ambient sounds – yet all with a distinct songwriting style that DiSalvo has come to be known for. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered by Richard Behrens and Emanuele Baratto at Big Snuff Studio.
“Hirschbrunnen – “stag fountain” – is the colloquial name of a large fountain that presides over a large green area near where I live.“ DiSalvo continues. “For me, it’s been strange to see my world, which normally consists of a fair amount of travel and external stimuli, reduced to one city, one district, one block for so long. Frustrating as that is, you might start to find inspiration and surprising beauty in your everyday surroundings that you otherwise would have ignored. Just as all the music I make is influenced by my experiences, Hirschbrunnen is a product of this unique and strange time in which we all have been forced to delve more deeply into our own thoughts.”
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