Release Radar: SavageKind’s Sung Words brings poetry and music together on powerful EP
For many hundreds of years music has fitted into the poetic tradition, and the debut EP by SavageKind demonstrates how vital this connection remains in the twenty-first century.
Titled - with piercing clarity - Sung Words, the recording features the words of poet Jay Savage put to music by five talented South African musicians: Neill Solomon, Rocksteady.Dub, Laurie Levine, Jim Neversink and Jak Thomas. It is the first in a series of releases that will surface in the coming months and was meticulously - and with extraordinary heart - mastered and produced by South African Music Awards-nominated producer Matthew Fink (Nakhane; Shadowclub; Sannie Fox; Jim Neversink; The Medicine Dolls).
A longstanding member of South Africa’s cultural and entertainment business, Savage began writing poetry in the wake of a personal tragedy in 2015 when his brother, a working sailor, and his two crew, went missing during a sea voyage. Against this background, the cruelties of the world - both personal and societal - underpin much of the lyrical material on Sung Words with creative collaborator Levine describing Savage’s poetry as a “glimpse into a vivid and rich world filled with characters, stories and ideas fueled by a highly original imagination, a literary sensibility and a strong musicality”.
Defying easy classification, Sung Word’s sound is omnivorous, ranging from the Nick Drake-esque spirit conjured up by Jak Thomas on “Tidy” to Jim Neversink’s raucous, grungy “1-23” and Neill Solomon’s gut-wrenching “Song of Solace”. Rocksteady.Dub’s soul reggae take on “Unstirred” is perhaps the EP’s most infectiously listenable song while Laurie Levine’s “Star of the West” is a Psych-Folk number that is among the most haunting and captivating of her storied career.
For Savage, hearing his words put to music has been a revelation. “Writing poetry has taken me into an unexpectedly rich and satisfying creative realm and, perhaps even more surprising, has been the way the musicians have responded to the poems. The process has felt effortless and each time I received a musical interpretation back from the artists you hear on the EP I was blown away by how they captured the essence of the words and brought their musical gifts to bear on the material.”
“Working alongside Jay Savage on SavageKind’s Sung Words was a sublime experience for me,” says highly-regarded musician, producer, singer, songwriter and composer Neill Solomon. “Blending Jay's soul-stirring lyrics and poetry, which delves into heartache, resilience and the depths of darkness within us all, struck a deep chord within me. Interpreting Jay’s intense words into a sonic landscape I discovered the music found its own life and freedom. The weight of the words and melodies will be etched upon the listeners' souls.”
For SAMA-nominated artist, songwriter and producer, Laurie Levine, the poem “Star of the West” evoked a feeling of a song in the words and rhythm. “The words held and balanced yearning, regret and nostalgia in equal measure- the perfect mix of emotions that lead to the kind of songs I like to write and listen to. My guitar melody guided the vocal melody and the rest came fairly quickly. I took a stripped-down approach to the production, giving the words space to breathe through a strong melody line carried by voice and guitar, with very sparse layering.”
Contributing his artistry from his home in Copenhagen, musician, songwriter and singer Jim Neversink reflects on the process of choosing which poem to put to music. “Jay is a prolific poet so it wasn’t so much as the musicians being assigned a poem to interpret, it was more a case of reading his work and choosing a poem that evoked an impulsive musical response with us and that was definitely my experience upon reading the words of ‘1:23’.”
That poem’s words propelled the critically acclaimed artist to create what he describes as a “disturbing drone-like raga to convey the monotony and pitiful existence of prison and post prison life” through matching distorted guitars with the metre of Savage’s words. “My focus was mainly on creating a solid fundament for his words to rest on with bass, orchestral percussion and droning electric guitars. Later I added some harmonica wails meant to capture the panic and repetitive ritual of searching for an escape from such a sombre disposition and Matthew Fink added some beautiful melodic guitar and piano to offset the protagonist’s depressing existence and introduce the possibility of light and optimism on his/her enduring journey. I don’t know how it ends and that’s probably how it is for many prisoners - the PTSD drone of eternal panic and sadness even after they’ve been freed.”
Thomas says that repeated reading of “Tidy” gave him a sense of the rhythm of the poem and he used that to play the opening finger-picked chords. “From there it just flowed very quickly and in a drastic attempt to not forget what I was doing, I recorded it on my cell phone and sent it to Jay for his thoughts and hopeful approval. That recording became the only recording that existed of the dance. Something true was captured in that moment; an earthiness that simply could not be recreated in a more professional studio environment and Jay agreed. I hope you enjoy the dance. It was an honour to be asked to be a part of this beautiful EP.
Finally, Rocksteady.Dub reveals that he picked up a sheaf of papers on a desk when he was working in Solomon’s Johannesburg studio. “Neill told me they were Jay’s poems and, on reading through them, I was really drawn to ‘Unstirred’ and how amazingly it captured the current state of the world - as a cry for help, for attention, for making a stand and challenging the status quo which really resonates with me as an artist and activist.. I took the poem home, got out my guitar and began messing around. I went back to work on it with Neill in the studio and the rest is history.”
For the artist, producer and songwriter there’s something more threaded into “Unstirred”. “The collaboration celebrates the friendship between Jay, Neill and me. Neill and Jau are people that I consider my mentors and it was an incredible way to work with those I love on our song of hope.”
The joy of collaboration is in the meeting of two worlds, concludes Levine. “You start with one world and then you inhabit it, bringing your own world into the creation. And the result is something entirely new and unforeseen. I am incredibly proud of this collaboration with my friend and music mentor of many years.”
SavageKind’s Sung Words closes with a moving spoken word track by Savage himself titled “Again”.
