Black Beach - the album, is a collection of musical ideas and themes largely influenced by the power and beauty of the local environment and black ironsand beaches of Aotea Harbour, New Zealand, where I lived with my artist wife, Janne, from June 2005 until July 2009.
Album art and webpage by PERRY DESIGN • Promotional Graphics

Cover art - sculpture: REFUGE by Janne Perry.

The Black Beach suite -

The Black Beach suite is an attempt to convey the powerful beauty, mystery and solace of the Aotea Harbour environment.

To fully appreciate the effect of this place on me and how it has influenced the music you need to understand the events of discovery, realisation and occupation.

Janne and I are both designers working in demanding and exacting fields. The pressure and stresses of a week finding solutions and meeting deadlines can take it's toll. Add in compounding family responsibilities of that time, plus the frantic city pace and traffic gridlocks and suddenly one needs a refuge.

Finding Aotea Harbour and village in 2003 provided just that refuge that we had been seeking for so many years. The purchase of a small bach gave us a place to escape to each weekend, and we did this for two and a half years, until finally figuring out that the respite of our 'refuge' could become a permanent position.

A change in lifestyle and some clever ideas saw us move permanently to Aotea Harbour and take up residence in the bach, well away from the falsehood and mayhem of the city life. It was a hard call at the time and took much courage but the rewards of our new lifestyle are beyond measure.

And So The Tide (intro) - Setting the mood. The background ambient soundtrack of distant surf competing with the insistent wind. The feeling builds as the eyes take in the majestic sand dunes and swirling tide. The vibrations can be felt through the feet.

There is a presence here. A stirring spirit can be felt as the slumbering Taniwha awakens.

be aware - the Taniwha is coming to correct the errors and mis-deeds of the uncaring and ignorant miscreants sleeping in the sun. Here he comes …

Phat Eddie ...!

Refuge - This is the principal soundscape from the Black Beach, our 'refuge' away from the hustle of city life.

'Refuge' is a sculpture by Janne Perry based on a spider´s nesting web, often seen on the tip of a gorse frond. This piece, for us, has come to symbolise the peace and sense of 'place' that we have found here at Aotea Harbour.

This piece also recognises the need for 'refuge' by all members of modern society, whether physical, psychological, emotional or spiritual. A place of peace. A place to dwell on finding self. A place to ponder the warped paths of life.

Moon in the Water - Sitting on our deck on a cool, crisp, winter night looking at the newly risen moon reflected in the calm water of the harbour.

It calls the mind to contemplate. It sings in through the eyes filling the head-space with tranquility and displacing the calamity and chaos of the working week.

Glimmer - This soundscape expresses the growing glimmer of hope for those emerging from the refuge.

The growing realisation of those emerging from their shelter from persecution that there is finally an opportunity for expression. They have reached the point where their efforts can make a difference.

The poor starving artists finally see an opportunity to speak out, but only to realise that nobody want's to listen. They have to make them listen. Fill the world with light and cast off the shadows.

The Remixes ...!
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