STACK August 2016 Issue 142

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Gypsy fiddle and Flamenco,The Beatles andThe Kinks, quality
and quantity, decision and consequence; Bernard Fanning takes
us through the making of his new album, Civil Dusk.
Words: Zoë Radas
T he first thing you hear on Bernard
Fanning’s new album sounds like a
harmonium. At the beginning of
opener Emerald Flame, it slides in and expands
like a bellows, and then it follows Fanning’s
voice, floating warmly and weirdly like heavy
smoke in reverse.
But it’s not a harmonium – it’s a guitar, filtered
through a pedal, and played by Powderfinger
guitarist Ian Haug – and it’s not the only thing
that isn’t as it seems across the dynamic,
rollicking instrumentation on Civil Dusk.
Are those castanets in the second verse of
belter What A Man Wants? “That’s Dec – he’s
playing spoons,” Fanning smiles, intimating
percussionist Declan Kelly. Is that you and Dec
in the syncopated clap breakdown on single
Wasting Time? Nope, it’s Bernard’s Flamenco
singer and dancer mates, who came in to his
Byron Bay studio to contribute. (I guess when
your wife is Spanish you get to have Flamenco
dancer friends?) “It was f-cking awesome!
‘Cause there’s a real skill to it: the shape of
your hand, the velocity and everything, there’s
this and that, up here, middle-palm, the fat part
of your hand,” Fanning says, holding his own
dukes out to demonstrate the manoeuvres.
(“I’m not very good at playing real subtleties
with my hands – that’s why I’ve never been
a very good guitar player or piano player,” he
insists. “I can keep the groove really well, I can
play them functionally and can write, but I’m
absolutely a jack of all trades.”) And on stand-
out L.O.L.A., the wheeling solo of an instrument
your brain wants to tell you is electric guitar
reveals itself as a fantastically emotive violin,
searing across the song’s chords with abandon.
“The thing I love about it is the note that starts
it,” Fanning enthuses. “It sounds like it’s going
to be a shredding guitar but then it’s a gypsy
fiddle. That’s Sally-Anna Campbell, who is in my
band now.” Fanning takes a moment to praise
Campbell’s style of musical comprehension
and application: “It’s so great having people like
that to work with, that have that commitment
and ability as well. That combination is really
important: the diligence to work really hard but
also the ability to come up with great ideas.”
Despite these details, which Fanning adores
explaining and exploring, the fundamental
simplicity to the man’s writing – which we heard
throughout his previous solo records, Tea and
Sympathy (2005) and Departures (2013) – is so
important. It’s essential all the way down to the
wire of formulating the structural spine for this
album and its companion, Brutal Dawn, which
is due out February 2017. “Nick [DiDia, Fanning’s
producer and long-time buddy] and I [believe]
there’re so many records now that are just
overdone,” Fanning explains. “There’s too much
information. There’s not enough editing that
goes on in terms of the way that people should
look through their own material and go, ‘This is
absolutely the best that I have to present.’ So
that was our idea: We said ten [tracks] or less,
rather than ten or more.”
However (“and it’s not a terrible problem”),
the songs kept spilling out, and after discussion
visit MUSIC FEATURE
14 AUGUST 2016
MUSIC
People should look
through their own
material and go 'This
is absolutely the best I
have to offer'
THE BYRON BATCAVE
After returning from Madrid (where he completed a good portion of writing for Civil Dusk), Fanning headed to his Byron Bay
studio with Nick DiDia. It’s called La Cuerva – Spanish for ‘The Cave.’ “It was kind of just a little play on that Man Cave
idea,” he laughs. “This place is the complete opposite. Like, you could not imagine it! It’s got a view of the entire Cape Byron
over a coastal reserve – it’s unbelievable.” DiDia and Fanning are in the process of turning it into a commercial studio right
this minute – DiDia has already mixed material for Missy Higgins and Delta Goodrem in the space – so if you’re looking for
somewhere to record your Strawberry Fields Forever, La Cuerva could be the golden spot.