Shawn Phillips releases new album

Shawn Phillips is pleased to announce his new album, Perspective, and will be on stage in an exclusive concert at the Royal Elephant on 6 November at 20:00.

Perspective was entirely funded by the donations of Shawn Phillips’ fans across the world via the Moneydance fundraiser on his website. “This album would not have been possible without the generosity of my fans. Their ongoing support over the decades has buoyed my career and driven me to continue to create,” he said.

Most of the tracks were recorded in Phillips’ home studio in Port Elizabeth, South Africa between February and April this year.

“I worked with exceptionally talented South African musicians – Lloyd Martin on drums, Joe van der Linden on bass, Mauritz Lotz on guitar and Wesley Keet, John Edwards and Ruby Gill on keys. Ruby is a recording artist at the beginning of her career. She’s only 17, but she has the most extraordinary talent as a composer and lyricist.”

Phillips co-produced the album with Bryan McLagan, who also engineered, mixed and mastered Perspective.

Two of the tracks were recorded in Montreal with the Canadian band The Nexxx in 2011. “This is a really tight band and I love doing shows with them. Vocalist Helene McKenzie adds a beautiful, haunting quality to the song Storm with her French lyrics mirroring the English lyrics I sing.”

Phillips collaborated with South African musicians Barry van Zyl and Nibs van der Spuy on the song Hadeda – a nod to the hadeda ibis, a large and vocal bird found in gardens across SA. “Both Nibs and Barry have strong music careers of their own. They are innovative and hugely talented.”

Three of the tracks were recorded in Los Angeles in 2002, with Grammy-winner Paul Buckmaster as producer and arranger. “I worked with some of the top session musicians in the world, including Leland Sklar on bass, Ralph Humphrey on drums, Mike Miller on guitar and J Peter Robinson on keys. These songs have been re-mixed and mastered for Perspective as they were not released back in 2002,” said Phillips.

“Dynamics and variation on an album are important to me. I don’t like listening to albums where every track sounds the same. Because I am not a band, I have the luxury of allowing this. If it were possible, I would use different musicians on every track. The musicians I work with can play any genre of music, from Metallica to Gyorgi Ligetti, and my CDs are as much a showcase of the musicians playing on them as they are for me. These musicians dedicate their lives to creating music – the mark of true musicians,” said Phillips.

“Music is a lifelong vocation for me. I believe that people will recognise contrived music created specifically for marketing purposes versus good music created for what it is.”