Aotearoa musician Don McGlashan – formerly of the Mutton Birds and a regular collaborator of Neil Finn’s – has announced his eagerly-awaited new album Bright November Morning, to be released October 29th. The first single from the album ‘Now’s The Place’, is out today.
Bright November Morning will be McGlashan’s fourth solo album, and is an essential addition to his remarkable output. It has all the glittering McGlashan touches in place: from the detail-perfect narratives of local life (the neighbours looking in when we take the curtains down, swimming and seeing Russian container ships on the horizon) to the strummy melodicism with detours into something noisier (hello the Straitjacket Fits’ Shayne P Carter, ruffling the immaculate surfaces), and on to those welcome and welcoming choruses.
New single ‘Now’s The Place’ was co-written by Don and old friend Harry Sinclair, with whom he formed the duo The Front Lawn back in the ’80s (pre- Mutton Birds), and with whom, more recently he created and developed the internationally loved kids show Kiri & Lou, which is shown here in Australia on the ABC. Indeed the song has its beginnings in a song the pair wrote for the show called ‘How Did We Get To Right Now?’, about the power of living in the moment.
Recorded in Lyttelton, Auckland and Vancouver, and full of inspired playing from his band The Others: Shayne P Carter (Straitjacket Fits, Dimmer), Chris O’Connor (SJD, Phoenix Foundation) and James Duncan (SJD, Dimmer), Bright November Morning marks a new stage in Don McGlashan’s generous and humane songbook.
| Don McGlashan is one of New Zealand’s most highly regarded songwriters and musicians, best known as the co-founder and frontman of the iconic and internationally acclaimed Mutton Birds. Before The Mutton Birds, he was the drumming songwriter for seminal and hugely influential early ’80s Auckland post-punk outfit Blam Blam Blam and then half of the equally popular acoustic duo The Front Lawn. He has five entries in APRA’s 100 Best Ever NZ Songs and has won numerous awards, including two APRA Silver Scrolls (for NZ’s top songwriter.) Don has a long-standing working relationship with Neil Finn, and has toured as both a member of and opening act for Crowded House. He has collaborated with Paul Kelly, Johnny Marr, members of Wilco, Radiohead and the Violent Femmes. He has scored over a dozen feature films and five TV series, including Jane Campion’s An Angel At My Table and the British Film Institute’s 100 Years of New Zealand Cinema, and worked as a Musical Director for the New Zealand Dance Company. McGlashan’s international reputation came courtesy of The Mutton Birds, who based themselves in London for four years in the mid-to-late ’90s after signing to Virgin. Their records were acclaimed; Q Magazine in the UK described them as coming “from the same cerebral power-pop mother lode as Big Star and early REM”, and legendary US publication Trouser Press said they made “sparkling guitar pop records” that combined “the dramatics of moody Australians like the Go-Betweens and the Triffids with the pure pop craft of Split Enz and Crowded House”. But they never enjoyed the commercial successes that ’90s major label budgets demanded, and McGlashan came home, eventually releasing, in 2006, his first solo album Warm Hand to Gold sales and wide critical acclaim. The same year McGlashan’s soaring gospel song “Bathe In The River” (APRA Silver Scroll winner 2006) was recorded by Hollie Smith. It went on to become one of the biggest NZ singles of all time and has recently had a resurgence via the te reo Māori version, ‘Kōrukutia’, released earlier in 2021. McGlashan hooked up with old friend Neil Finn in 2008, touring the USA and Europe with Crowded House as both their opening act and part of their extended onstage line-up. In 2009, he took part in Finn’s ambitious Seven Worlds Collide live and recorded project alongside Johnny Marr and members of Wilco and Radiohead. The same year he released his second solo album Marvellous Year, and while touring it in Australia, he appeared on Rockwiz, duetting with countrywoman Jenny Morris. The Mutton Birds reformed for sold out shows at home and around the world – including a London homecoming at Shepherds Bush Empire – in 2012, and in 2013 he toured Australia, the UK and elsewhere in a duo show with fellow NZ singer-songwriter Dave Dobbyn. McGlashan’s third solo album, 2016’s Lucky Stars once again saw him make the top five on the NZ charts. Acclaim in Australia included a 4 ½ star review in the Sydney Morning Herald and led to an appearance at Brisbane’s A Rock’n’Roll Writers’ Festival, at which he performed and also joined panels alongside the likes of Don Walker and Deborah Conway. |
| DON MCGLASHAN’S BRIGHT NOVEMBER MORNING IS OUT THRU MGM, OCTOBER 29 2021 FIRST SINGLE “NOW’S THE PLACE” OUT TODAY STREAM OR DOWNLOAD ‘NOW’S THE PLACE’ HERE PRE-SAVE ORDER OR PRE-SAVE BRIGHT NOVEMBER MORNING HERE FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/don.mcglashan INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/donmcglashan TWITTER: https://twitter.com/donmcglashan BANDCAMP: https://donmcglashan.bandcamp.com/ YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/c/DonMcGlashanMusic |
