ALIENATHAN by Nathan Evans

In 1999, Nathan began recording 'Alienathan'. On a four-track in his bedroom. Twenty years from its completion, he releases the album for the first time in a redux twenty-track version.

From the acidic electronic title track to its pop pastiche finale 'I Wanna Be A Gay Boy', 'Alienathan' takes the listener on a dramatic galactic journey via the comically jazzy 'Suspended Animation' and the spoken word symphonics of 'And Transfiguration'.

This is queer electronica with classical overtones, Nathan playing (almost) all instruments: Such an eclectic mix of oboes and synths cannot have been heard since the early days of Roxy Music. Other influences include 90s pioneers Bjork, Massive Attack, PJ Harvey.

Lyrically it explores sexuality, identity, class, capitalism. There’s also a fair helping of twenty-something navel-gazing. Tempered by forty-something experience with judicious editing.

The original tapes have been dusted and digitized, tracks recorded or rerecorded in later years incorporated, overdubs added, songs reordered, the album’s essence restored, reimagined and redelivered.

Nathan says, 'Recording for 'Alienathan' was finished in the first year of the new millennium. It was performed once only in an obscure London gallery. I subsequently recorded a collection of queer cabaret ditties, performed at various venues (in various states of undress) throughout the noughties and—on the occasion of its tenth anniversary—reworked ‘Alienathan’ (not entirely unironically) for performances at Bistrotheque and the Royal Vauxhall Tavern. In 2016 I reworked some of its lyrics for my debut poetry collection and in 2020 reworked it definitively (maybe) for release on its twentieth anniversary.

'Some of the songs—'Shipwreck, Saturday Morning', for instance—weren’t part of the 2009-10 incarnation and had two decades’ dust on them. I dug up my antique four-track to digitise the master tapes and was then able to treat each instrument individually, enabling greater clarity (and creativity). With the luxury of unlimited tracks, I added overdubs on oboe for a more organic feel and stripped away the worst of my twenty-something indulgences (the original Shipwreck was almost double its current length to little additional effect).

'Some of the songs (such as the title track) were rerecorded digitally for the tenth anniversary – programming imported from an old drum machine, new oboes, keyboards and vocals overlaid on them. The tyrannies of software upgrades have rendered some of these files unreadable in the intervening decade: I’ve had to settle for the 2009/10 mix of 'Alienathan' and tinker with compression, for instance. Similarly, 'Suspended Animation', rerecorded for the Threads eBook in 2016.

'The strata of production on other songs are lost in the mists of time: I was surprised to find a rerecorded version of 'Lap Dog', which must be from around 2005 when I was considering its reinterpretation as a cabaret song. Three songs from that period—not on the original 'Alienathan'—have been included. There are several reasons for this: I liked the idea of having twenty tracks for this twenty-twenty release and they make up playtime lost to my pruning. They also inject some humour into proceedings.

'For similar reasons, I’ve chosen Justin David’s sassy and spacey reworking of Tony Wilburn’s 2002 photo for 'The Coming-In Show' over the album’s original, more whimsical artwork. After the first four tracks, the song order is entirely different to that in 2000 and at least half of the song titles have changed. But I’ve resisted changing lyrics which—if I wrote them now—might be rather different: I’ve not wanted to rerecord vocals because my voice now sounds different, and I’ve not wanted to spoil it. I remember first hearing Kate Bush’s 1986 reworking of Wuthering Heights and thinking why did she do that when the original was perfect? This isn’t perfect, but I hope you enjoy exploring its imperfections as much as I have.'

xN

Nathan began songwriting on a Casio keyboard in his bedroom, had recorded seven cassette-deck concept albums by the time he turned sixteen.

He returned to recording in 1999 with the bedsit four-track 'Alienathan', which he's releasing finally to mark its twentieth anniversary.

In his other lives, Nathan is an award-winning writer, director & performer making books, films & theatre.

nathanevans.co.uk
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