Nightsville by Jacob Cole

released May 29, 2020

All songs written by Jacob Cole © 2019

Jacob Cole ~ Guitars, Bass
Jethro Pickett: Lab Steel (5 & 6), Wurlitzer Piano (5), Organ (3 & 8)
Adrian Whitehead ~ Organ (1 & 8)
Matt Dixon ~ Pedal Steel (2 & 5)
Sam Young ~ Drums (2, 4, 6 & 7)
Michael Iveson ~ Drums (1 & 5)
Tim Keegan ~ Bass (1)

Produced by Jacob Cole and Jethro Pickett
Mixed by Jethro Pickett
Recorded by Jethro Pickett at Rolling On The River
Recordings & Shane Omara at Yikesville (2019)

Mastered by William Bowden

Photography & Artwork Design by Lilli Waters
Additional layout by Craig Kelly at The 16th Floor

Thank you so much to my lovely wife Lilli for your
support and for inspiring me with your imagination
and creative spirit, to Jethro for your generosity and
sonic genius & to Shane for the wonderful sounds.
Thank you to Jethro, Adrian, Matt, Sam, Michael
and Tim for your beautiful music.

More words:

Almost all of the songs on the new record were written over ten days. I put some simple demos together and then played them for good friend, and wonderful musician/engineer, Jethro Pickett on a visit to their idyllic house in the Tasmanian countryside. Jethro’s house and studio were once old apple sheds and they sit on the Huon River. The quiet and the beauty of the place, as well as Jethro’s enthusiasm for the demo’s, inspired me to record the album there. Jethro and I are also both guitarists in a band together, The Moreland City Soul Revue (almost all the band members are also featured on the album), and playing together has always just worked. Without ever having to talk about it, we never seem to get in each other's way. The album was then recorded over a few return trips to Jethro’s Tassie studio, (and a couple more with Melbourne icon, producer Shane Omara), and the space and stillness there heavily shaped the sounds that are heard on the record.

Mostly I get my fill of creating music from years of regular playing in bands in bars and pubs around town, from Alt country, to Soul, to Blues. Only very infrequently have I sat down to try to write my own instrumental music. I really love a lot of jazz, but everything that came out of me sounded like ‘bad jazz’: overly complicated, but lacking something. In some ways this album is almost anti-virtuosic, though I still get to express my real love of improvisation which has been an obsession for 25 years.

Most music I listen to these days has lyrics, and with Nightsville I wanted to try to capture a feeling I get when I listen to certain music, but capture it without the lyrics. Most of the music I love by Bob Dylan, Ry Cooder, John Lennon, Tom Waits, has just a few chords and a beautiful simplicity. A deceptive simplicity. Those beloved songs are so profoundly strong — sometimes old folk melodies that had been reworked handed down through generations.

I was also drawn to instrumental music and soundscapes from movie soundtracks, made to accompany imagery and tap into an emotion, rather than be ‘impressive’ and show off a musical ability. At times, the music on this album has a cinematic sound, and in my head I always imagined it as a soundtrack to a film not yet made. My talented wife Lilli Waters and I collaborated on two music videos, which hopefully resemble short films rather than music clips.

I think the music that comes out of me, whether I’m playing as a side person or in my own compositions, is always a mix of melancholy, joy and optimism. All of the art that I am drawn to has some kind of pain in it. When my wife, a photographer, reworks her photographs, I often say, “Can you make the images darker?” until they almost disappear into the murky and imperceptible.