Seminal album Everything’s a Love Letter by Saddleback (Tony Dupé) is to be released on vinyl for the first time by German boutique label Oscarson. Originally released on CD by Australian label Preservation in 2004, it sold out quickly and was re-released with bonus tracks of reinterpretations by Richard Skelton, Aaron Martin, Grand Salvo, Part Timer and others. Retaining the original Mark Gowing sleeve artwork and remastered for vinyl, Everything’s a Love Letter is a joyous and celebrated album. It is the sound of someone finding new identity and expression in the embrace of the seaside and solitude.
Saddleback was the moniker used by Tony Dupé for this album and the follow-up Night Maps (Preservation 2007). These records evolved over long periods in between producing albums for other songwriters and composers (including Holly Throsby, Jamie and Sophie Hutchings, Jack Ladder, Archer Prewitt, Grand Salvo) who would visit Dupé in various wooden cottages along the lush southern coast of NSW Australia.
Saddleback happened on days off from producing. On those off days, Dupé would slow down to explore piano, pump organs, guitar etc, whilst working on analog 8 track tape and an early DAW to combine live playing with loops or tape processing. The combination of live playing, room and external sounds together with subtle abstractions and splintered song structures is a distinctive model heard forming within this initial solo release. Everythings a Love Letter is the exploration of identity post- band, post- long term relationship, half the week spent exploring music alone and with friends in a tiny isolated town by the sea and the other half exploring music working in a record store in the busy heart of a city.
Everythings a Love Letter received wonderful reviews with musical comparisons as varied as Stars of the Lid, Morricone, Aphex Twin, Calexico, Low, Earth, Fennesz, The Necks, Kammerflimmer Kollektief and the Dirty Three.
credits
released September 9, 2022
Played, recorded and mixed
by Tony Dupé.
Many thanks to the kind folk who came to
the country and played on these songs.
Peter Archer: bass on Seven Miles and
guitar on Polaroid Fade; Dave Aston:
drums on Polaroid Fade; Peter Hollo: cello
on Train South; Emma Magenta: voice and
piano on Nearly New; Penny McBride:
trumpet on Seven Miles, train South and
Polaroid Fade; Jaime Olsen: saxophone
on Sunlight Night.
All this music was made and mixed on
the south coast of New South Wales,
Australia. I want to express a mountain
of gratitude to everyone who has
been kind, encouraging, generous and
understanding. Everything is appreciated.
Mastered by Casey Rice
Vinyl Mastering by Calyx
Art Direction by Mark Gowing
Photography by Sandie Don
Tony Dupé is a composer and producer who creates music connected to place, stories and the experience of sound. He loves musical instruments and plays a range but is happily a master of none.
supported by 8 fans who also own “Everything's A Love Letter”
A wonderful musical collection that shows the unity of the whole world and the support of Ukraine during the long war, which will undoubtedly end with the victory of Ukraine. And now the terrible numbers... Only according to official data as of today #russiaisaterroriststate killed 510 children in Ukraine, injured another 1141 children, kidnapped 19546 children. There are many more unofficial victims. And russia remains a member of the UN... desynkro303
Wonderfully spectral guitar songs from Rob Byrd have the subtlety and beauty of the quiet parts of post-rock songs, all tension and mood. Bandcamp New & Notable Oct 3, 2022