Back in 2019 I was absolutely floored by the debut album from Newcastle-upon-Tyne based musician John Edgar. He had made his name with bands such as Okay Champ, EAT FAST and Nately’s Whore Kid Sister. The Dawdler was something totally different. Keith in Ballachulish was a bold and uncompromising album of quite stunning fragility and nuance. It scooped my album of the year in 2019 and remains a firm favourite to this day.
Since then, John has released The Pursed Modern EP and Signs of Growth EP. Both maintaining that high quality of songwriting and production.
It absolutely made my day when I heard a new EP of songs was finished. The Tracing Spirals EP is imminent and I’ve been given a sneak peek. Before we dive into the songs, I asked John to give us a bit of an intro to the EP.
“Recorded and produced entirely at home and alone, this EP is about disability, immobility, sleep, and nostalgia. An honest sketch of my restricted life. Worsening disability and dysarthria (speech and vocal cord deterioration) has brought about my decision to make as much music as I can while I can. A home-made, DIY approach means I can work when I’m able to and not worry about meeting other people’s expectations or demands.”
“I made this EP with sleep in mind. I sleep a lot and spend loads of time in bed listening to ‘sleepy’ music. I wanted these tunes to be a worthy sleep companion for any fellow slumber fiends out there. I’m reluctant to use the ‘lullaby’ word, but I just did.”
“All the vocals are quadruple tracked and whispered at the volume of a snoring mouse. The guitars are fingerpicked and thumbed as gently as I could possibly manage. The synths are all snippets of my demos slowed down, stretched, and layered. Intimacy, warmth, loneliness, nostalgia, quiet, sleep, immobility, disintegration, weed. These were the main bubbles on my EP spidergram.”
“All the vocals are quadruple tracked and whispered at the volume of a snoring mouse. The guitars are fingerpicked and thumbed as gently as I could possibly manage. The synths are all snippets of my demos slowed down, stretched, and layered. Intimacy, warmth, loneliness, nostalgia, quiet, sleep, immobility, disintegration, weed. These were the main bubbles on my EP spidergram.”
The EP opens on the simply stunning ‘Never Go Far’. Slowly plucked guitar couches his warm and comforting vocal. The song’s open and honest lyric cuts straight to your heart. “Don’t be scared I’ll Never Go Far. I’m always scared so I Never Go Far”. It paints a vivid picture of Edgars life that is immediately identifiable. He grabs your empathy and shares his with you. On his Keith in Ballachulish album there’s a song called ‘Sylvie’ which has been my favourite song of his since I first heard it. It shares that empathic quality. I now have a new favourite song.
‘Way Back Home’ has a more sombre ambience. The guitar pulsing like a beating heart as Edgar’s voice weaves around the mix. As the song goes on those synths he mentioned slowly emerge and grow until they consume the closing notes. Once again, the lyrics are really powerful. The moment the words move from “I saw the whole thing burn to the ground” to “Can’t find my way back home” is just epic.
The sound of reverse synth lines leads us into ‘Break’. This song truly has that lullaby feel. The stop start in the chorus is a great but subtle use of gentle dynamics to elevate this track to another level. Like a lot of Edgars songs this one is over before you know it but that too is so clever. His songs never out stay their welcome leaving you wanting hear them again. Immediately.
The EP closes on ‘High in the Bathroom’. This one sparkles like the sun on still water. The synth pads are like porcelain and the harmonised vocal lines exultant. It’s a beautiful little sound study and the perfect way to round off this collection of songs and send us off to our dreams.
As he has so many times before, Edgar crystalizes his vision with pinpoint precision. This EP is a love song to slumber. To the magical idyls of our imaginations. As always, our narrator’s heart is not just on his sleeve. It infiltrates and penetrates every moment. Like a silent companion it holds our hand until we slip off into our own dreams.
Tracing Spirals is out on March 31st from The Dawdler Bandcamp page.
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