In mid November, Nibs van der Spuy will release his all acoustic album, Morning Star, in what is seen as a radical departure to Nibs’ highly acclaimed solo catalogue. What sets this album more apart is that it was recorded in one day and all the material was written 4 months prior to entering the studio. Secondly this is Nibs at his most musically naked. It features only his voice and various guitars recorded simultaneously, usually in the first or second take. When asked for the reasoning for this different approach, Nibs had the following to say, “I’ve always wanted to record an album essentially ‘live’ in the studio and totally solo. In pretty much the way Bob Dylan recorded his first 3 solo albums, saying it the way it is, in an organic and real fashion. Those albums still sound fresh and timeless 50 years later. Nick Drake did it 10 years after Dylan with his ‘Pink Moon’ album. Recorded in ten hours, it has now become a folk masterpiece and a reference to the NU FOLK movement of the new millennium. Another huge inspiration for this departure to the norm is Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’ album, recorded in his lounge. With this nakedness the imagery is so powerful that you can taste the dust in your mouth. Lyrically and musically I wanted it to be so fresh and close to the bone, almost as if I was singing the songs for the first time. With ‘Morning Star’ I wanted the ‘out back’ South African experience to be the tangible backdrop. There are ghost trains travelling through desolate landscapes, dry River beds with broken wind pumps, bitter wine, abandoned Cape Dutch houses and lost love.” The album also features two bonus songs, Once I climbed a lion mountain and A house across the river.
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