Xavier Rudd - White Moth CD
$16.00
For so many artists, the divide between their live shows and their albums can be enormous. And for an artist like Xavier Rudd, who utterly thrives in front of audience, and feeds off its energy, capturing that live electricity has always proved a wee bit elusive -- until now.
With White Moth he's finally harnessed that spirit, thus realizing a goal of combining the acoustic warmth offered by a studio with the adrenalin of the stage. Yet the disc, the Australian roots music star's fourth album (and third to be released in the U.S.), isn't all about sound techniques, fidelity and the stuff that keep soundmen chatting into the middle of the night. Rather, it's just the opposite, as White Moth charts the spiritual journey multi-instrumentalist Rudd has been on over the past few years, during which he's traveled the globe and built a devoted following drawn to his amalgamation of folk, reggae, rock and world music. Featuring guest vocals from Aboriginal singers, it finds him paying respect to Australia's indigenous people, from whom the didgeridoo virtuoso has drawn bottomless inspiration.
Lyrically, it pays homage to those same people, and also to his wife and children, environmental activists--whom he refers to as the "better people"--and to the people who make this life possible, his fans, who fuel the spirit of White Moth. Co-produced by Rudd and Dave Ogilvie (David Bowie, Marilyn Manson and N.E.R.D.), most of the album's tracks were captured in the woods of British Columbia's Sunshine Coast at Gggarth Richardson's studio, The Farm. It was there that Rudd, in order to capture the bigness of his live sound, plugged into a P.A. system, which was then mic-ed. Rudd set up various instruments, like his didgeridoos and stomp boxes, in other rooms, from which he and Ogilvie could capture woody tones that could be fused to the electric tracks.
Featuring appearances by members of the esteemed Aboriginal musical group Yothu Yindi, percussionist Dave Tolley, Panos Grames, and First Nations Cree elder Kennitch, White Moth is representative of Rudd's entire life, ranging from those snapshots of life at home on Australia's south coast (in the town of Jan Juc), and meditations on friends ("Twist") and the family bond (the cancer victim in "Choices") to emotional and literal trips to Australia's historic Arnhem Land, an Aboriginal territory whose people are the subject of the song "Land Rights." Rudd recorded some of the guest vocals on White Moth here, and with an elder in Canada, where his wife was born. With the music building into a storm-like squall at song's end, "Footprint" examines the damage being done by global warming, while "Better People" is Rudd's tribute to the people who deserve more credit for their environmental activism than he.
Of White Moth, he says, "I think the record is just a reflection of my journey and my journey is amazing. It's a reflection of a connection with powerful people around the world--powerful spirits--but also connections with the energy that people bring to my show. You know, I'm really lucky that I have such a good and amazing support base everywhere I go. Great people come to my gigs, and they bring beautiful energy, and that energy flows through me everywhere I go, every show I play."
1. Better People mp3
2. Twist mp3
3. Stargaze mp3
4. Choices mp3
5. Come Let Go mp3
6. White Moth mp3
7. Footprint mp3
8. Land Rights mp3
9. Anni Kookoo
10. Message Stick
11. Set It Up
12. Whispers
13. Whirlpool
14. Come Back
Released June 19, 2007
With White Moth he's finally harnessed that spirit, thus realizing a goal of combining the acoustic warmth offered by a studio with the adrenalin of the stage. Yet the disc, the Australian roots music star's fourth album (and third to be released in the U.S.), isn't all about sound techniques, fidelity and the stuff that keep soundmen chatting into the middle of the night. Rather, it's just the opposite, as White Moth charts the spiritual journey multi-instrumentalist Rudd has been on over the past few years, during which he's traveled the globe and built a devoted following drawn to his amalgamation of folk, reggae, rock and world music. Featuring guest vocals from Aboriginal singers, it finds him paying respect to Australia's indigenous people, from whom the didgeridoo virtuoso has drawn bottomless inspiration.
Lyrically, it pays homage to those same people, and also to his wife and children, environmental activists--whom he refers to as the "better people"--and to the people who make this life possible, his fans, who fuel the spirit of White Moth. Co-produced by Rudd and Dave Ogilvie (David Bowie, Marilyn Manson and N.E.R.D.), most of the album's tracks were captured in the woods of British Columbia's Sunshine Coast at Gggarth Richardson's studio, The Farm. It was there that Rudd, in order to capture the bigness of his live sound, plugged into a P.A. system, which was then mic-ed. Rudd set up various instruments, like his didgeridoos and stomp boxes, in other rooms, from which he and Ogilvie could capture woody tones that could be fused to the electric tracks.
Featuring appearances by members of the esteemed Aboriginal musical group Yothu Yindi, percussionist Dave Tolley, Panos Grames, and First Nations Cree elder Kennitch, White Moth is representative of Rudd's entire life, ranging from those snapshots of life at home on Australia's south coast (in the town of Jan Juc), and meditations on friends ("Twist") and the family bond (the cancer victim in "Choices") to emotional and literal trips to Australia's historic Arnhem Land, an Aboriginal territory whose people are the subject of the song "Land Rights." Rudd recorded some of the guest vocals on White Moth here, and with an elder in Canada, where his wife was born. With the music building into a storm-like squall at song's end, "Footprint" examines the damage being done by global warming, while "Better People" is Rudd's tribute to the people who deserve more credit for their environmental activism than he.
Of White Moth, he says, "I think the record is just a reflection of my journey and my journey is amazing. It's a reflection of a connection with powerful people around the world--powerful spirits--but also connections with the energy that people bring to my show. You know, I'm really lucky that I have such a good and amazing support base everywhere I go. Great people come to my gigs, and they bring beautiful energy, and that energy flows through me everywhere I go, every show I play."
1. Better People mp3
2. Twist mp3
3. Stargaze mp3
4. Choices mp3
5. Come Let Go mp3
6. White Moth mp3
7. Footprint mp3
8. Land Rights mp3
9. Anni Kookoo
10. Message Stick
11. Set It Up
12. Whispers
13. Whirlpool
14. Come Back
Released June 19, 2007
