Avalanche City

Hi order the full album at http://itunes.apple.com/nz/preorder/our-new-life-above-the-ground/id426249099

As Avalanche City, Avondale musician Dave Baxter has taken the idea of a solo project one step further with the release of Our New Life Above The Ground, an album he recorded at Kourawhero Country Community Hall in one week in April, playing all the instruments and recording the album himself.

Aiming to encourage wide distribution by releasing the album for free, Our New Life Above The Ground was released at 3pm on 11 October. The release was primarily promoted by a Facebook event invitation. By the following morning over a thousand downloads had taken place and the count reached 1745 by 3pm today.

The experimental folk-pop album is a departure for the musician who has previously played in hardcore bands One Must Fall and The Chase and made his living working in a recording studio as well as writing music for television and commercials and recording for bands including Trigger Theory and Arms Reach. He started teaching himself to sing a year before starting to record the album.

Baxter says that when he set out to record the album he tried to approach music from the point of view where anything could happen.

"I tried really hard to just let the songs go where it seemed they wanted to go. Whether it be just a single guitar and keys, or 40 floor tom drums pounding out the rhythm.

"For a lot of the songs I actually tried to stay away from the "band" sound, so although most of the songs have drums, they're drums that aren't played as a drum kit. I mic'ed up individual snares and played them as if they were their own instrument, and the same with the kick and the toms.

"One song I'd written on guitar and it just wasn't working so I played the whole thing on glockenspiel and I think it really worked. It was just really nice to have freedom to try new things.

"For me the album was a real adventure and I was excited about trying new ideas and experimenting. I hope when you listen you can kind of hear that adventure in the songs."

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