Dirt Hand is a mix of traditional balladry and art-wank process experimentation. Australian solo project Dirt Hand (Arun Roberts) makes conceptual and process-based records that mostly end up sounding like alt-rock infused with neo-folk.
LION is the first single from the second upcoming EP called the "Thorn Variations" and is due for release in March of 2019. Arun likes Steve Reich so he produced a series of polyrhythmic canons built out of a single hand clap pattern. These variations became the building blocks for the entire project. For this recording Arun wanted to capture the players as they were still figuring out their parts, in a kind of magic garden of spontaneous adventure, so he deliberately told them nothing about the recording session.
"LION came about very quickly and has refused to leave me alone ever since. I wrote it one day shortly after my uncle had finally succumbed to the myriad cancers plaguing his body and life. He was a dear man and role model and I could only liken his passing to the defeat of a mighty lion by a gust of wind. This is its second recorded appearance. It is a song that stands up to constant redressing and reinvention, more than any other song I’ve written. I quite like that about it. It is like my own private jazz standard. For this recording I provided each player with a unique rhythm and asked them to base their part on that rhythm.The result was a kind of euphoric rhythm soup."
UPCOMING SHOW DATES 2018
8TH NOVEMBER @ THE END, BRISBANE WITH
ALICE NIGHT
22ND NOVEMBER @ THE LADY HAMPSHIRE,
SYDNEY (SUPPORTS TBC)
23RD NOVEMBER @ THE B.EAST WITH ZUMA
9TH DECEMBER @ MONA WITH THE LAWLESS
QUARTET
"THE THORN VARIATIONS" IS OUT 1ST MARCH,
2019 ON ALL DIGITAL PLATFORMS, SELECT RECORD OUTLETS AND VIA
