Hi Dave. Thank you so much for agreeing to this interview.
Before we discuss the band project, I would be interested in hearing about the Dave Hilborne musical journey, so your key influences, how you became a musician, and any further recording or live work.
I've always adored music. Since an early age it was a means of expressing emotions that I couldn't otherwise. Even if back then I wasn't playing an instrument I was singing along. I'd listen intently to vocal phrasings & instrumentation. I sat on my bed with my tape player for hours on end soaking in those early Genesis albums. It wasn't until I was 19 that the idea of picking up an instrument occurred to me. I began on a cheap nylon acoustic. I vividly remember strumming away in a room at my sister’s house. Although technically I wasn't the most proficient I discovered that I could construct songs & melodies. It was a big confidence booster when my close family & friends encouraged me to continue. After my brief flirtation with the guitar, I found I was far more suited to the keyboard. It was then that my love for multi-layering & orchestration was born.
My influences have pretty much remained consistent throughout the years. The usual prog rock suspects, Genesis, Floyd, Marillion all present & correct but also the likes of Talk Talk & Nick Drake. I would have to say though by far my biggest influence has been Peter Hammill. His body of work is so expansive & diverse.
During the 1990's I did some live work & actually was able to produce a vinyl record. My first love though has always been for writing & recording so it is there that I have focused most of my energy.
Let’s start at the beginning of the Nova Cascade story. In 2017, three musicians met by chance in a gaming chat room. Please tell my readers the story of how such an encounter led to a fully-fledged and highly regarded musical project.
The three of us met on a gaming livestream. The broadcaster would randomly invite his viewers to participate in the voice chat as he played. I could hear various instruments being played in the background whilst we were chatting. It was then that the decision was made that we should perhaps hook up & attempt to jam. By this time in 2017 I had been in a period of inactivity for more than a decade, so I was nervous about committing to anything. Fortunately, after some gentle encouragement we set the wheels spinning on what was to become Nova Cascade. I can say without hesitation it has been the highlight of my career.
So, the debut album, Above All Else, was released in September 2018. It is described as “ambient progressive rock” on your Bandcamp page. I am always rather wary of labels, so how would you describe or expand upon this descriptor to the uninitiated, please?
Likewise, I am none too keen on labels either, but we appear to be living in an age where everything needs a succinct description to attract a would-be listener. If I had to break down the music of Nova Cascade, I would say it is on the softer side of Progressive rock but that isn't to say that the rock element is wholly absent. Our aim from the very beginning has been to remain melodic & memorable. Many of our tracks don't follow standard song structures. The mood is forever shifting. Dynamics are a big part of who we are.
You took lead vocal duties and synths, Dave Fick on bass guitar, and Alessio Proietti is on lead guitars. Also, part of the project was Heather Leslie, who plays a stunning violin piece on Lo-Fi, and Charlie Bramald (who I recently interviewed with Ghost of the Machine) on flute. I would be grateful if you could describe how you put the album together with musicians from three countries, so the writing, recording, and mixing/mastering process.
From the beginning our recording approach has been that of an online garage band. We have used whatever we have been able to lay our hands on. So laptops, iPads, PC, etc. The bulk of the writing is done by me. I will create a complete song structure & then send it to the other members. They have complete freedom to add whatever they wish. I’m always very excited to hear what my bandmates will add. Our process involves a lot of file sharing, so our priority is to retain as much quality as possible. At the very beginning this wasn't so much of a priority. I think this is apparent on a few tracks on 'Above All Else’. I’d encourage listeners to view that album as more of demo than a fully-fledged release.
David Anania guests on drums on Epiphany and contributed more extensively on the follow-up. David has quite an extensive CV with Blue Man Group and has supported the likes of Moby & Bowie, so I would be interested in how he came to be involved with the project.
David became involved briefly after I heard a wonderful track from his solo album. I was thrilled when he agreed to contribute.
I have embedded the track below – Epiphany is a moment of revelation such as that of St. Paul. Elsewhere, the story of Icarus is well known from Greek mythology, but to me tells more of man’s hubris, whilst Imago is a mental image, usually of a parent, idealised and influencing one’s behaviour. Therefore, I believe that the album is one which deals fundamentally with the human emotional condition. What concept, if any or overarching theme did you intend to statement, please?
I wish I could offer an answer worthy of this question, but the reality is many of the titles on AAE were working ones. Often when I'm writing a piece of music, it will evoke a particular emotion or a scene. So, I’ll jot down a working title which I may return to lyrically later.
Further to this, on A Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, the follow-up album, we have Apophis, who was an ancient Egyptian God (by the way, Charlie’s flute is delightful on this), and Echo & Narcissus. You clearly have an interest in ancient mythology, society, and history, so please discuss this with my readers.
Again, I cannot claim to have any deeper insight into mythology etc., but in the case of Apophis for example I did have a particular scene of an asteroid approaching earth hence the rather menacing mid-section. But I also wanted to temper this with a sense of hope & relief. Hopefully that is communicated in the final piece. Echo is a very dark song even by our standards. I did the vocal in one take because I wanted that rawness & emotion to come across. Eric’s violin adds a lot of beauty in contrast to the otherwise sombre mood.
Incidentally, with the hubris of Icarus and the tale of Echo and Narcissus on the follow-up, who rejected the advances of the nymph and fell in love with his own reflection, there are in my opinion very clear parallels in modern society. It is a fair comment that the UK has seen its fair share of narcissistic fools in recent times, and these tales are as pertinent now as they were then. A deliberate position on your part?
Nothing deliberate on my part I'm afraid!
Who is responsible for the drums and effects elsewhere on the debut album, please?
All of the percussion/electronic programming is done by myself apart from track 8.
I think that there is a rawness to the album. I would be interested in your reflections on the work now that you have released further material.
I think raw is an excellent description for the debut. It was never intended as a fully-fledged release. We were finding our feet & working out how & if we were able to function as a unit. Recording remotely has its challenges & we were learning as we went. As I stated previously at the very beginning, we weren't giving much thought about overall fidelity. It was more a case of can we work together. For example, I have no musical training or theory whatsoever so at the beginning there were communication issues about key etc.. Fortunately, over the time my bandmates have become accustomed to my bizarre ways!
The album cover is striking. Who produced this, please, and tell me how it fits into the theme of the album you were trying to create?
The cover was commissioned by us & created by Paul Dews. There is no central theme to the debut, but I wanted the image to convey the lyric of the title track which is of two lovers wishing they could delay the dawn & therefore remain in a state of rapture for eternity.
I have embedded Continuum here for my readers. This is an altogether gorgeous track with a dreamy guitar leading some ethereal vocals and a simple beat underpinning it, and yet there is an intensity to it which, to these ears, somewhat belies an “ambient” tag. I would describe it more as minimalist. What are your thoughts, please?
Continuum was the very first piece that we worked upon. At the very beginning I suggested that we keep things simple, so we based the track around a guitar loop to which I added various chords & Dave’s bass notes to give it a shifting feel. Overall, I think it worked pretty well & may have given birth to our ambient prog label!
We Never Spoke has an altogether darker feel to it, with Charlie’s flute swirling above stark guitar riffs and your piano providing a rather forlorn feel before the track expands with some lovely voices and the band providing a sense of urgency. It is very impressive. Please provide my readers with the background to this song.
We Never Spoke was the third track we worked on. At this point I felt we could perhaps branch out and attempt something a little more ambitious than our first two offerings. I had a few piano pieces laying around from a previous project, so I assembled these into a slightly longer piece. I think a lot of the excitement of this track stems from the various musical influences of my bandmates who injected a lot of energy into it. One of the beauties of Nova Cascade is never knowing what any one member may contribute.
The album did rather well, achieving three UK ambient chart number ones, so this must have been especially gratifying.
Yes, it was a big morale booster & was a big incentive to keep going & refine what we were doing. I think it was also a deciding factor in releasing the debut.
At this stage of the interview, I know that Dave would not mind my embedding this gorgeous video of Eric & Anne-Claire covering the sumptuous Easter, by Marillion, as an example of sheer talent. Watch and drink the emotion in.
Before I proceed to discuss with you the works which followed, it really would be impossible to do so without mentioning the late Eric Bouillette, who joined the project on the sophomore album. Eric was incredibly talented. You must all miss him very much.
None of us can know with any certainty how we will respond to losing a loved one. In the case of Eric, I cannot accurately put into words my sense of grief. I was determined to show him in some tangible way just how much he was loved so we commissioned a portrait for him from acclaimed artist Charlie Roy. In the months leading to his passing, we became incredibly close. He was still sending me his parts for our next album two days before he passed & he did so at great personal cost to himself. I know he recorded many of his parts in immense discomfort. He was incredibly passionate about our project. To say he will be missed is a gross understatement.
So, to A Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, released a year later in September 2019. We will start with the title track, a genuine prog “epic” length track more than ten minutes long. It is embedded below, and I know that my readers if they have not heard it before will love this track, with its intricate rhythms and changing moods within different segments. There are moments of sadness, anger, reflective passages, and some such as the soaring denouement which simply lift you up. Only intelligent music can do this, provide for a commentary on the human condition and then take you up beyond the corporeal. So, please discuss with my readers the overarching themes of this album and the circumstances behind its creation.
I like to describe Dictionary as a series of happy accidents! During the writing of the title track I was looking for words to describe the various emotions the music was triggering for me. As soon as I discovered John Koenig's superb urban dictionary, I knew I had our album title! It was one of those rare eureka moments we all hope for. Full credit for the final track belongs to my bandmates for going above & beyond. Eric’s soaring solo over the final section is a testament to the genius of the man.
Talking of the denouement of the title track, it is followed by a few seconds of near silence. Silence can, of course, be as powerful a statement of music as notes sometimes, do you not agree?
Very much so. Especially after a track like Dictionary or the follow up Back From The Brink I think it’s important to give the listener a brief pause to absorb & then appreciate whatever may follow.
The title itself refers to a compendium of invented words for strangely powerful emotions written by John Koenig which can be viewed above. So, how did this embed itself within Nova Cascade?
I think my previous answer can sum this up.
Another fantastic album cover. Talk us through the creation of this, please.
All our covers apart from the debut are the work of Charlie Bramald. I generally have some ideas, but the final creation is very much his own. I have to say my jaw literally dropped when I saw this particular cover! Considering we have no budget I'm in awe of what he's able to produce. A striking cover is a key component to any progressive rock album.
I have embedded the opening track, Unwavering, below, and from the very start of this the improvement in the production as compared to the debut is extremely noticeable, so I would be grateful if you could discuss this and the changes which were made. For example, I understand that you are responsible for pulling together, as it were, the different parts recorded into a coherent whole, so an explanation of this would be most interesting.
The modest success of AAE persuaded a few of us to invest in better equipment. I think that would be the easiest way of explaining the shift in quality. But I also believe it’s because we just became more proficient at using what we had available. All of us are recording at home with no studio equipment. It’s a challenge but at the same time liberating in terms of being able to experiment without cost. I think the cost of producing some of our tracks in a studio could be frankly terrifying!
Eric replaced Alessio. Why did Alessio leave the project, please?
Alessio was with us for approximately 4 months, but I think his attention was divided elsewhere. I think it’s fair to say that Dave Fick & myself had more long-term ambitions for the project whereas Alessio viewed it as more of an experiment which is fair enough. I'm very grateful that the project has endured & managed to gain some modest recognition within the community. Seeing our last album recommended in Prog magazine is still a high point for me.
What impresses me so much about the band, and one of the finest examples of this is the fantastic Rabbit Hole which I have embedded below, is the somewhat difficult trick you pull off packing so much music within short time spaces, not something normally associated with progressive rock by the outside world. Within the compositional stage of the music, do you start off with a firm idea of the length of a piece, or is it simply an organic process of where the music takes you?
Ah Rabbit Hole! I had a lot of fun creating this track but at the same time I almost fell down a metaphorical hole in its composition! I've always been drawn to abstract chord sequences but sometimes it can leave you with limited options in terms of changes etc. Eventually I worked it out & I think it’s one of the stronger tracks on the album. I generally start with a piano motif or perhaps a rhythm. I never deliberately mould a track one way or another. It’s a very organic process.
The violin contribution on Echo & Narcissus and the wonderful Joseph by Eric is exceptional and I love the keyboards you provide, and this is all sumptuously underlaid by the rhythm section of Dave & David, the former producing some more lush grooves. Both are special tracks and indicative of a huge creative leap forward. You must have been aware that the band were now moving into a different space?
Eric had a sublime gift for elevating anything on which he played. I was over the moon with his contributions. I think a lot of the success of Nova Cascade is in huge part down to its individual players. Dave Fick, Charlie, and Eric are all fantastic listeners & this I believe comes across in the various parts which they contribute. A good analogy for Nova would be : I build a house but my bandmates make it a home.
Plasticine & Paint, a song which takes me to a very special and gentle mindset – a commentary on your own childhood or something closer to the present time?
Very much a reflection on my own childhood & also how that has translated into being middle aged as I am now. That fear of the unknown is something we can all relate to. Lyrically it’s my favourite on that album.
We move on to 2021, and the latest full release by the band Back From The Brink. My very good friend, Thomas Szirmay, who now writes as Prog Rogue, reviewed the album for Prog Archives and his final paragraph stated “fans of heavy metal frenzy will delight in this recording, helping them to properly refresh their frazzled hormones and get ready for the next onslaught. Others who prefer the more romantic side of music will love this too”. I love Thomas’s skills as a wordsmith, and it was, in fact, his review which was my introduction to your music (not for the first time, I might add). He is right, isn’t he?
It’s hard to be objective about your own work but I'm more than thrilled to have read the various positive reviews we have gotten over these past five years. We strive to improve with every release.
Those bass grooves of Dave combined with your programming on Rectify are a very strong statement of intent. Very noticeable is the effective notation and percussion of Lorenzo Poliandri. Tell us a bit about him and how he came to be involved, please.
Lorenzo became involved after I had approached David Anania who was unavailable at that time. Lorenzo slotted in very well to our way of working. He has a first-class ear & is immensely receptive to suggestions. Dave’s bass is what I like to think of as our secret sauce! Often understated but always present & inventive.
Lazland note - Lorenzo’s YouTube channel can be viewed at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCL5E7P_mghom1x9CNpgd0Ig
The production on the album is noticeably better, and there is a classic “wall of sound” displayed. The again impressive cover with its depiction of the astronaut jumping into the abyss of space from a planetary brink, and the quote from Neil Armstrong alongside more of the futuristic vibe we had on previous albums. I gather that during the year which preceded the release you contracted Covid and have struggled with Long Covid. Indeed, listening to the title track, though beautiful throughout, there is a deep sense of melancholy, of yearning for health. Talk us through the concept and the realisation of the album, please.
I'd be wholly dishonest if I were to say that making this album was a pleasant experience. Rarely in my life had I ever felt so wholly beaten & unwell. Needless to say, Covid is no joke & its lingering aftereffects arguably more so. For better or worse, this album had our longest production period to date. I must thank my bandmates for sticking with me through this period. The title track is a good indicator of the type of health turmoil I found myself in, but I didn't want to finish the album on a downer hence the closing long winter which I hope offers some sense of hope at least.
I have embedded the hugely impressive The Minutes After here, a track which combines a deep pastoral feel especially with Charlie’s flute and your keyboards, lush bass grooves, whale song and the sea, a quite beautiful acoustic guitar lead by Eric, and a futuristic vibe all in one. The Minutes After what, please?
This again refers to my time with Covid. There are various contrasts of darkness but also of hope. I like to think of this as a classic example of what we do best. A condensed timeline of various moods & emotions.
I have embedded Classroom Keys below. Charlie on a stunning flute combined with your piano and Dave’s almost Squire-like bass, this is on the face of it a very simple track, but there is once again a huge amount packed in to just two and a quarter minute. What classroom do the protagonists obtain the keys to? That of life, or a simpler concept?
Classroom was the very first track that I composed for BFTB. The unusual chord progression bought to mind a deserted classroom with a rickety old piano suddenly bought to life by a ghost playing it. A whimsical idea but great fuel for the imagination!
The album closes with Long Winter and your almost impossibly sad voice talking about “in a way you saved me”, the whole experience changing you, it still hurts sometimes, but you are pulling through, so this is a song about perseverance and coming out the other side. It is a remarkable song. So, please tell my readers where, precisely, Dave Hilborne is in November 2022.
For better or worse, I've always been an open book & that is unlikely to change. I wish I could say I was free from Covid & its lingering after effects but sadly I still find myself in poor health & each day does present its own unique challenges. But I remain wholly grateful for Nova Cascade & friendships. And I'm determined to honour the memory of our dear Eric the only way I know how.
Okay, then. We now look forward to 2023, when the fourth album, Navigator, will be released. Can my readers still pledge to this project on Kickstarter? The link is at https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/novacascade2023/nova-cascade-the-navigator-2023
The Kickstarter ran for 30 days only & is now closed. We were thrilled to reach our modest goal in under 24 hours.
Here for my readers is Too Far Back from the album, and Sleeping Dogs (work in progress), both of which show further progression. The latter has that wonderfully evocative violin and your questing voice set against a choral backdrop. So, without giving too much of the game away, please tell us how this project is developing and the story behind it.
Each day all of us are uniquely travelling. Either physically or mentally. The album is exploring a few of these themes & also others like making peace with past events as in Sleeping Dogs. We are a long way from completion but even at this phase of its production we are confident that it is our best work so far. I must also take this opportunity to thank Colin Powell for joining our project. He has already cemented his position with some outstanding contributions. This is & will be our most ambitious project to date not least because we have secured the services of a full choir! Also, musically the navigator is even more dynamic & melodic than ever.
I gather that all profits will be going to a pancreatic cancer charity in memory of Eric. Please provide my readers with the relevant details and how they can contribute.
I can confirm that EVERY PENNY of profit will be donated to pancreatic cancer UK. We will provide the relevant links once we have coordinated with the various organisations.
In closing, thank you so much for doing this interview. Some final remarks for my readers, please.
Thank you for allowing me to speak with such freedom about Nova Cascade. It has been a genuine pleasure answering your questions. We hope you'll consider exploring our work further.