Letting the Instruments Speak for Themselves
In a casual comment made several months back, Dave Desmelik, one of our area’s most highly respected singer/songwriters, mentioned he was working on an all-instrumental album of new material.
“It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a long time,” he told me, likely sensing the skepticism in my reaction. “Now seems like a good time.” That uncertainty on my part no doubts stems from Desmelik’s reputation as a wordsmith extraordinaire, a writer with the inherent knack for dropping the right expression into a phrase, turning the everyday into invention. It’s been his bread and butter, and I seriously doubt too many of his fans show up at his shows to hear him remain silent.
But meaning and circumstance and emotional response can emerge from many differing sources, and in the case of Instrumental Swim, they coalesce out of the many textures and tensions Desmelik has created. It’s an album of varying moods and swings, shifting from one train of thought to another in ways that lyrics might not.
It’s certainly not for everyone, and I can fully understand if some of Desmelik’s audience finds it slightly aloof if not outright alienating. But in the end Dave Desmelik has made the album he wanted to make rather than the one some — although I suspect if they gave it an unconditional chance they would think otherwise — might wish to hear. That is certainly his artistic prerogative and Desmelik is a true artist: He’s also a cordial and affable friend who graciously took his time to chat about his latest goings-on.
Rapid River Magazine: Did Instrumental Swim emerge in part out of a growing confidence in your playing? It’s hard to imagine your making this record five years ago.
Dave Desmelik: There’s no doubt as the years have moved along, I have continued to grow more confident in my playing guitar and other instruments too. I’m not sure that I would say this album emerged wholly from that, but certainly in part.
I actually wanted to make this CD many years ago, but for whatever reason it didn’t happen until now. Which is just as it should be I suppose. There was newly inspired material recently written as well as older material that was to me, aching to be recorded.
RRM: I’m genuinely curious… did any of the songs at one time have lyrics? Was it a matter of “nice tune but the words aren’t coming together?”
DD: Not at all. The thing is, all of these songs are what I intended them to be. Some are quite short, others more drawn out, but this is the album I wanted to make. And I’ve recently written some more instrumentals — as well as other songs — so I guess it’s on to the next project.
RRM: You’ve always been an assured guitarist, particularly on acoustic. But I once described your piano playing as primitive in a Neil Young fashion, which you took as the compliment I intended. What was your approach to making this record?
DD: My approach was basically the same as past albums for me. This is my eighth full-length recording so I’m pretty locked into what I like to do in the recording process. In a nutshell, it’s something like this…. Vinny Constantine, who is an excellent recording engineer and an old friend living in Nashville, comes to my house with some gear. He sets up and when he’s done I sit down and play.
I tend to keep things simple and sparse and pretty stripped down. There are definitely some tunes that I play a number of instruments on and go for a nice full sound, but generally speaking I lean toward letting the feel of the song speak for itself and try not to let it get muddled up with sounds that don’t really need to be there. I really do think that less can be more.
RRM: Talk a bit about Vinny and his contributions.
DD: I have been extremely fortunate to work with Vinny on many recording projects dating back to the late 1990’s. We have seen each other grow immensely in the music world. Vinny has an incredible ability to capture the mood of a song through recording and always makes the artist feel comfortable. He excels at engineering and recording music probably more than he gives himself credit for.
He makes good suggestions and has valid ideas for taking a song in a certain direction, but as with any artist who stubbornly remains true to his or her vision, the final decisions come down to the artist. I believe it is wise to listen and use suggestions from others to benefit the music, but in the end it is the writer/artist’s ship to sail.
RRM: Did you write the songs specifically for this project, or had some been percolating for a while?
DD: It’s a bit of both. There are songs on this album have been lingering for many years and simply refused to go away and there are songs that were written through inspiration knowing this project was going to become reality. They are all to me powerful, personal, and a glimpse inside my head and heart. My hope for the listener is that this album can be heard intimately as well as casually.
RRM: Talk about June 2 at the Grey Eagle; it certainly doesn’t sound like your typical CD release show.
DD: This show will be outside on the patio at the Grey Eagle on Sunday, June 2nd and the music starts at 3 p.m. It is a daytime event, family friendly and free admission. There is a suggested donation of $10 (this includes a new CD), but everyone is welcome to come enjoy the tunes. The Grey Eagle is such a great venue and I always look forward to performing there. It should be a special day.
RRM: Do you plan to mix older songs in with the new, or can you envision an all instrumental Dave Desmelik evening?
DD: I’m thinking the first set will be myself playing some instrumentals from the new CD as well as some instrumentals written recently and not recorded yet (yes, they keep coming). The second set will be some older songs and newer songs with vocals and possibly some friends joining me too. I can assure you I’ll play my heart out.
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If You Go: Dave Desmelik CD release event at the Grey Eagle on Sunday, June 2 at 3 p.m. A suggested donation of $10 gets you all the music plus a copy of “Instrumental Swim.” How can you possibly go wrong? The Grey Eagle, 185 Clingman Ave. Call (828) 232-5800, www.thegreyeagle.com