Evert Snyman & the Aviary Premiere “Thinking Too Hard” Video; Pruning in the Dark Coming April 1
Johannesburg, South Africa’s Evert Snyman & the Aviary will release Pruning in the Dark April 1 through Mongrel Records. Musically speaking, Snyman is a smartass with a heart of gold. Sitting down casually at his piano with a cigarette dangling from his mouth — that shit’ll kill you, man — in the video for “Thinking Too Hard” (premiering below) the impression is casual to the point of toss-off, but while the aesthetic says punker laissez-faire, the material itself speaks to a depth of craft derived from classic pop structures and desert-style heavy rock, broadened in sphere all the more for Snyman‘s guiding hand as a producer.
As with Snyman‘s 2021 solo offering, Hot Mess (review here), there’s a fair amount of snark here, and joined by members of The Tazers, Caution Boy and Them Dirty Shrikes, as well as guests from Ruff Majik, Acid Magus and more, there’s something of an encapsulation effect for the South African heavy underground happening, even as Pruning in the Dark is identifiably Snyman‘s own in the cynicism of the spoken parts in “St. Elseway” or the swaggering crunch of “I Never Listen When You Speak,” Rarely is a song over four minutes long — only the presumed side A closer “Sir Richard Salt” (4:41) and its side B counterpart, “Pop Abortion” (9:55) are longer — and the tracks surrounding are deceptively efficient at framing the perspective of the record.
“Numerous Strides” bursts out with emphasis on its post-Songs for the Deaf tonality, also heard on “Thinking Too Hard,” which follows the more keyboard-led opener “Pruning in the Dark,” which moves into a payoff of guitar and finds Snyman vocally referencing Queens of the Stone Age‘s …Like Clockwork in some of the non-lyric vocals. Still, it should tell you plenty that one of the record’s catchiest hooks is the bouncing “Enough of This Ride,” with lines like, “One day I’ll get away and never ever come back,” standing out as they establish the lyrical point of view that unites much of the material.
That, of course, leaves Snyman and company — Stiaan du Preez on guitar, Andi Cappo on bass and Tim Edwards on drums/vocals; The Aviary take their name from Snyman‘s first solo record — room to branch out instrumentally. “Fluff” repurposes the guitar shine of CCR‘s “Fortunate Son” with seemingly intended irony, while “Sir Richard Salt” calls back to the beginning of the album with key and bass prominence, but sets it to a drum beat and funk-informed progression that reminds of what Beck‘s cooler-than-cool kitchen-sinkery might be if it let itself get heavy later on. Punker thrust in “Minor Hiccup” becomes melodically complex desert rock careening, while “More Over” is ready to tip into more abrasive noise from the keys and guitar in its second half, a squibbly solo thrown in for good measure as a change from the shimmy of “Numerous Strides” before that sets up the comedown of the mellower “I’m on a Cloud” after.
The latter is the penultimate cut on Pruning in the Dark, and takes ’70s singer-songerism over the edge of a cliff into the weirdo finale of “Pop Abortion,” which sounds like it was initially born out of an improv jam and built upward with layers of fuzz and samples, and so on, making it an immersive collage piece that feels sure enough like a kind of brain dump born of anxiety and being overwhelmed. To the credit of Evert Snyman & the Aviary, it grooves for all that, and despite being a step outside of Pruning in the Dark‘s established method of songwriting, it still manages to bring to mind the underlying thoughtfulness of the arrangements throughout and the balance of the mix that’s able to account for kicks of tempo and distortion when called for but still feels human and tied to Snyman‘s way of looking at the world.
And all the while, across these spaces of varied intensity and breadth, Snyman maintains the attitude that it’s just another day doing what he does. Listening to the record, which follows 15 months after the last one and runs 10 minutes longer with more songs — nothing like having something to say and/or a backlog of material to say it with — it might actually be that. If so, here’s to tomorrow as well.
Jacques Moolman of Shadowclub guests on “Thinking Too Hard,” and you’ll find the video below, accompanied by comment from Snyman and more from the PR wire:
Evert Snyman & The Aviary, “Thinking Too Hard (feat. Jacques Moolman)” video premiere
Evert Snyman on “Thinking Too Hard”:
“I had booked the session with Jacques Moolman (Shadowclub) who I’ve been wanting to collaborate with for years. I didn’t even know what we were going to record (or that it would be on the new album) and had written the lyrics and half of the music two days prior. On the day of the session I showed everyone the unfinished song and then we finished arranging it in less than an hour. Chris wrote the Latin-ish bit in the middle right before the heavy bit that Jacques came up. This song is a lot more representative of what we sound like live and it’s probably one of my favourites on the new album. I also love the fact that we tracked the basic track live in the studio without a click and that the song only has one chorus. It’s the first song that features every single member of my band The Aviary. With Andi Cappo’s thunderous bass complementing Tim’s insane drumming as well as Stiaan Du Preez’s tasteful lead guitar which stands out on the mellower piano part in the middle. Engineering on the day was my friend Kyle Leist. Who did a fantastic job capturing the performance. I’m very lucky to have the opportunity to collaborate with such talented musicians…”
DOWNLOAD / STREAM https://orcd.co/thinkingtoohard
PRE ORDER / ADD THE NEW ALBUM https://orcd.co/pruninginthedark
Recorded & produced at Evert Snyman’s own Pariah Studios, forthcoming album ‘Pruning In The Dark’ (which includes new single ‘Thinking Too Hard’) is also the first to feature his entire band, The Aviary including a host of guest musicians. These guests, of course, are also prominent members of various prestigious South African Stoner / Fuzz / Psych Rock bands (Shadowclub, Ruff Majik, Caution Boy). In lieu of COVID-19 confinements Snyman was hell bent to ensure that Pruning In The Dark was a completely collaborative effort (which presented a few pandemic safe face-to-face challenges). resulting approach is a much heavier offering than 2021’s debut ‘Hot Mess’, which saw Snyman steering not only the albums engineering, mixing and mastering alone, but also the album’s instrumentation and performances.
The Aviary:
Tim Edwards – Drums and Vocals (The Tazers)
Andi Cappo – Bass (Caution Boy)
Stiaan Du Preez – Guitar (Them Dirty Shrikes)
Features:
Jacques Moolman (Shadow club) – Guitar
Kenny Hughes – Guitar
Casey Bliss (Karaoke Machine of Death) – Bass
Brendon Bez (Ruff Majik) – Guitar
Chris Van Renen (Acid Magus, Ruff Majik) – Guitar and Keys
Johni Holiday (Ruff Majik) – Guitar
