Horton Hears a Who: A local lad & his album.
What do you call a T.V dinner in a microwave? Well Tim Whitt may consider it to be his next big sound. The local musician has sought inspiration out of everyday life in his newly formed album Giesel.
Tim has scoured the streets of Adelaide with his ear to the ground, ever searching for the next “unique” sound to add to his living onomatopoeia of a music portfolio.
There is definitely a market out there for sampling the ambient noises of inanimate objects. Daveed Diggs from the Broadway hit Hamilton, was able to capture some catchy percussion undertones by hitting a metal thermos with a stick. The Avalanches (a band who is also sharing the Womadelaide stage) spent a number of days shaking a fence to find their perfect sound.
Tim seeks music beyond the recording studio for a number of reasons. For one, sampling sections of music from iconic artists can be a dubious game. The biggest risk of being a music sampler is the possibility of violating copyright laws.
“I've been threatened by the record labels of Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton and Led Zeppelin,” Whitt said.
Admittedly, Tim prefers to sample music from the dusty archives of the Salvos discount records bin. He likes to go hunting for what he calls “The diamond in the dirt.” There is a romantic presence to what he does. It's almost like he is performing an exorcism to remove the aura of melancholy surrounding these old songs by bringing them back into relevance.
Relativity is an important trait for a man, who often feels disconnected towards the world that surrounds him. Whitt admits that he has spent chapters of his life living inside his own head. This is why Tim had chosen the name Giesel for his latest album.
After stumbling across the suicide letter of Dr. Seuss's first wife Helen Geisel, Tim found himself confronted by how much her writing had resonated with him. It was a sobering experience of facing his own vulnerabilities.
“I was really down on myself and in this bad place in my life, then I just happened to come across what she had written. What I took away from Helen’s letter was disconnection to the world around her. It got me thinking about my world around me, the world that I live in.”
The tragic ending of Helen Geisel, inspired Tim to take action over his own life. His latest album is a therapeutic journey of ‘outside’ sound. “It’s an outlet to sample the world’s music,” he said.
The final song on his album, Work Eat Sleep approaches the mundanity of daily routine. Tim has sampled the sounds of a local train breaking along the metal tracks. It’s a sound that perfectly encapsulates the commuting experience.
Tim has captured the sound and soul of Adelaide’s bustling streets. His biggest task will be coordinating a live band to compose his album’s intricacies during the opening night of Womad this weekend.
