DYLAN – The Light (Dylan Wade Music ) (13th Floor Album Review)
Dylan Wade Lajunen has broken his 14-year silence on record to release his latest offering, The Light, reminding us of his contribution to folk, reggae, rock and blues genres synonymous with the sound of Aoteroa New Zealand heard mainly at festivals through our glorious summers.
The longtime Coromandel resident guitarist, composer, and all-round musician has assembled a group of locals whose talents shine as brightly as the glistening waters of the South Pacific off the Coromandel coastline with contributions (in no particular order) from Yair Katz (drums), Wouter Schild (bass), Liam Ryan (keys), Eva Hannokin (violin), Helen Lee (flute), Janek Croyden ((Weisenborn), Caitlin Smith, Peter Johnston, Roimata Taimana and Nur Peach (vocals).
The 16 tracks of The Light are by Lajunen’s own hand, with the exception of Coromandel Gold by Phil Toms (revived as a dub version bringing the album to a close) and the Yousef Islam/Cat Stevens classic Peace Train, recorded at Auckland’s Roundhead Studios and mastered by multi-award-winning Chris Chetland at KOG.
Probably not unexpected for songs coming from the Coromandel, a place known for independent and alternative thinking, there’s a fair bit of protest in these songs. Coromandel Gold is a fine example of this laying down a theme after the celtic-inspired opening instrumental Celtiki (a blend of Irish and Kiwi). Penned by one-time Herbs bassist Phil Thoms, the song speaks to resistance to pressures from the mining lobby, as relevant now as it was when first released in the early 1980s.
They want to crush every stone, every tree. Money for them, dead valley for you and me – these are words that could have been written last week, let alone 40 years ago as we still face attack from those who would sell out one of the country’s jewels for a fistful of dollars.
The song was originally performed by Tribrations, Tribrations were Phil Toms‘ previous band before he joined Herbs. It is reggae-inspired, with that nicely laid-back, homegrown feel, which is even more horizontal and sun-drenched in the closing revival on the LP.
The protest song theme is evident in the track, Into The Light, and Freedom, both with a nod to that Irish 1970s folk hero Jeff Lynn and the mighty Thin Lizzy, with a great rock feel and some sublime guitar solos from Lajunen.
What are you doing? Look at what you have done. So many people you displaced, and and all the ones you’ve laid to waste… Open up your arms as you surrender and walk Into the light – he sings in the first of those songs. Freedom asks the question – Talking about freedom, thinking about freedom. What does it mean to be free?
And there’s more raging against society in To War, another rocking song with a military snare accompinament – If they had known what they were lining up for
If they had known what they were signing up for. They wouldn’t have gone to war – a message that is timeless, obviously pointing to sacrifices made in past generations, but, again, relevant to what’s going on in our world today.
Lajunen also revives some of that psychedelic rock feel from his former life as frontman with Castle Rock, which took the Coromandel Sound out into the big wide world 30 years ago. On You’ll Know and Prophets he’s laying down some cosmic messages with some beautiful folk tunes, even bringing flute and piano.
Prophet manages to bring English folk legend Nick Drake to mind with some lovely gospel-blues cadences in the piano with the message – Prophets say keep your heart wide open, Understand the devil from within, Words were written down once were spoken, For us to read and think about again – some hopeful advice that appears in a few of these tracks.
There’s no more hopeful song, in my view, than that classic Yousef Islam/ Cat Stevens classic, Peace Train. Lajunen gives it his own flavour with the rhythm mixed up a bit and some great guitar licks and flourishes.
Lajunen shows off some great songwriting skill, blending strong messaging and themes with sympathetic and relevant music. The Wheel is a fantastical storyline set against the backdrop of rising and falling chord progressions suggesting the swell of an ocean out at sea.
And he gets his own Classical Gas instrumental with Salaam, an eastern chord progression with a wonderful psychedelic jazzy feel.
Summer might be fading fast, but The Light will be bring nostalgic feel that will keep warm the memories of those golden days for a little while to come.
Alex Robertson
The Light is out now
