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David Long Photo: supplied
Collaboration with artists across many disciplines and styles has long marked out the work of Pōneke Wellington musician David Long.
David Long is perhaps still best known as a key musical partner of Don McGlashan in ‘90s band The Mutton Birds, and prior to that as part of experimental outfit Six Volts, who backed up the Front Lawn on their first recordings.
But Long has also created the music for countless films including the Lord of the Rings trilogy, BBC series The Luminaries and recent Loren Taylor feature The Moon is Upside Down. Then there’s his long track record composing for contemporary dance, including writing many pieces for pre-eminent choreographer, the late Douglas Wright.
Photo: supplied
Long’s latest solo album, All Things Will Stay Silent, has just been released. It brings painting into the mix - it’s the second Long album in a row, after 2022’s Ash and Bone to feature a gorgeous Karl Maughan painting of a garden on its cover.
The album, similarly, is gorgeously recorded, with a rich ensemble of clarinet, harp, tuba, bass, drums, vocals and Long’s own inimitable guitar. And naturally it's stylistically diverse.
All Things Will Stay Silent was released the same week as Primitive Art Group 1981-1986 a rerelease of two albums by a seminal group of Pōneke experimental musicians. David Long went on with members of the group to establish the Six Volts in the 1980s.
It’s an enduring arts scene in the Capital captured in a new book by Daniel Beban out early November with Te Herenga Waka Press, Future Jaw-Clap: The Primitive Art Group and Braille Collective Story.
David Long joins Culture 101 to discuss his new album and the musical scene that got him here.