Louis de Bernieres, author, poet, musician
I’ve been working with the splendid, multi-talented chap that is Louis de Bernieres for a few months. Yes, most people know him as the author of Captain Corelli’s Mandolin, but to me he’s a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter who asked me to help him capture his music.
Anyway, initially I helped him finish off gathering together the equipment for a basic but nice home-studio. That job done, we moved on to beginning the process of recording an album.
As schedules allow, about once a week or every other week I go up to his house just over the border in Norfolk and see what joys he has been dreaming up to record. As well as bucket-loads of songs, Louis de Bernieres has an astonishing collection of instruments from around the world, most of which he can play very well. Flutes, clarinets, oboes, bassoons, flamenco guitars, lutes, bouzoukis, mandolins, mandocello, octave mandola, 12-string things, 9-string things… I use the plural as there really are many.
I think it’s only drums, percussion and backing vocals that I’ll be performing on record. But I don’t mind.
So, bit by bit, we’re steadily compiling what is turning out to be a fascinating, surprising, melodic, multi-faceted album of Louis de Bernieres’ songs, done in Louis de Bernieres’ style. The other day I commented that one of his melodies sounded decidedly Abba-esque, which raised a large laugh from Louis. I think he approved.
At present there is no release date for this particular album. It’s only about half-finished and he has another mostly-completed album in a laptop somewhere, which may get released first. Suffice to say I can heartily recommend whatever comes out.
Meanwhile, if you’d like a flavour of what it is like to be in Louis-world, his blogs are highly entertaining.
DB
