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Track by Track -
Glauber Who? - A Night Out With G Man
Glauber Who? - A Night Out With G Man
A compilation of songs old and new, Glauber Who?’s new album A Night Out with G Man is a warm yet melancholic dose of blues. We caught up with the man himself to get the stories behind the tracks.
Glauber Who? speaks many languages and music is definitely one of them. A Night Out With G Man, his debut album, began taking shape in January 2020, after Glauber had finished setting up a home recording studio. With a week off work, the aim was to use his spare time to try some different recording techniques - and while his past music previously featured heavy drums and guitar, A Night Out With G Man is an exploration of gentler and more intimate ways of expressing his music. As his focus was to experiment with recording processes, the “perfect take” wasn’t the aim. This is perhaps the quintessential element of Glauber’s style – displaying the raw and bittersweet realities of life.
The freedom of working solo and playing every instrument himself meant he could take the album where he wanted. He approached it as an artistic exploration and removed pressures of exterior opinion. Starting off with a curious call into the echo, the album then progresses into a fusion of guitar strumming and fingerpicking that embody the heaviness of blues. Soft percussion and an instance of soulful harmonica intertwine with these, lifting the spirits of the album and depicting Glauber’s altruistic nature.
The freedom of working solo and playing every instrument himself meant he could take the album where he wanted. He approached it as an artistic exploration and removed pressures of exterior opinion. Starting off with a curious call into the echo, the album then progresses into a fusion of guitar strumming and fingerpicking that embody the heaviness of blues. Soft percussion and an instance of soulful harmonica intertwine with these, lifting the spirits of the album and depicting Glauber’s altruistic nature.
Tomorrow Is Not Necessary
Well, most of these songs I had played live as a “singer-songwriter” kind of thing, and because of the “not so popular” aspect of the songs, I often have the people that are not really open to listen to something that doesn’t sound like Triple J and end up leaving the bar. So I decided to open with this particular “song” to say if you pass this 30 seconds, great! You are likely to enjoy the rest. A funny thing about this song is that the phrase came about in 2011. I was having a conversation with a friend and she was going, in her own words “spend the summer in Norway” so I respond, “cool see you next Tuesday”. And since then I have tried to write a song with that phrase.
Falling Down
I have always loved songs without a chorus, that have the melody focus on a metric based on poems, that have kind of more abstract meaning lyrics wise, and sounded a bit bucolic. It’s probably one of the oldest songs on the album, even though the lyrics were written as I was recording it.
Victory Gin
This one is the opposite to ‘Falling Down’. I think I wrote it in about 15 mins. In 2013 I was living by myself and used to seclude myself from friends from time to time, and spend four or five days just writing and writing. I was also reading 1984 before going to bed, and I woke up at 3 in the morning with the music part of the song in my head. Not knowing what to write for the lyrics, I just opened the book where I was reading and the first phrase I see is about ‘Victory Gin’, so that became the focus of the song, but by the end it became more about feeling tired of everything.
Let It Blah
This one is the only one that I had actually played with a band, and the only one I wrote with someone else. I used to have a band with some friends in Sydney called Lucky 13, and the drummer (Nina Caxambu) brought the first verse and the chorus for me to write the music part, and together we finished the rest of the lyrics and ended up rehearsing the song. We played it once in our last gig together, but the song always stuck with me and it’s probably one of my favourite songs I ever wrote.
Part Of Me
This one is the “meta” song of the album, it’s about the struggle and the pleasures of making art, writing songs, the feeling of being doubtful and proud at the same time. This is a song that I would want to do more with one day, I wish I knew how to play trumpet to be able to play the end of the song on a trumpet instead of the guitar. One day.
Cinderella 44
This one was actually not recorded with the others. This song I recorded in 2013, I had a friend from Brazil visiting and he was saying how picky I was about things, and called me a cinderella. Now thinking about it, it doesn’t make much sense, but we were drunk so it was funny then, and the 44 is the shoe size (in Brazilian numbers). Again, the song came about very quick a few days later, I was mucking about with the riff and just went to the garage and wrote the lyrics as I was recording it.
Don’t Be Upset
Remember when I said earlier that people sometimes walk out of me playing because of the nature of my songs, ah well, this one is for them. I once had a chance to sing this song as a group of people were leaving the bar and got to wave goodbye to them. They took it well, there was some laughing.
Once For All
This one is another one that it’s a bit about finding a self-truth I guess, I have become over the years more and more against religion and its impact on society, so I tried the make a definitive instatement about religion, as I said I tried, don’t think I succeeded, but it works as a song.
Last Blues Into The Sun
Here is another song that was not recorded together with the rest, this one is the very first song that I ever recorded. I bought a cheap USB mic, plugged it in, played some chords, layered some other licks on top and by the end of it I decided that if playing music was not gonna be my bread winner, recording it was plan B. In a way, this one started this whole thing I guess.
Well, most of these songs I had played live as a “singer-songwriter” kind of thing, and because of the “not so popular” aspect of the songs, I often have the people that are not really open to listen to something that doesn’t sound like Triple J and end up leaving the bar. So I decided to open with this particular “song” to say if you pass this 30 seconds, great! You are likely to enjoy the rest. A funny thing about this song is that the phrase came about in 2011. I was having a conversation with a friend and she was going, in her own words “spend the summer in Norway” so I respond, “cool see you next Tuesday”. And since then I have tried to write a song with that phrase.
Falling Down
I have always loved songs without a chorus, that have the melody focus on a metric based on poems, that have kind of more abstract meaning lyrics wise, and sounded a bit bucolic. It’s probably one of the oldest songs on the album, even though the lyrics were written as I was recording it.
Victory Gin
This one is the opposite to ‘Falling Down’. I think I wrote it in about 15 mins. In 2013 I was living by myself and used to seclude myself from friends from time to time, and spend four or five days just writing and writing. I was also reading 1984 before going to bed, and I woke up at 3 in the morning with the music part of the song in my head. Not knowing what to write for the lyrics, I just opened the book where I was reading and the first phrase I see is about ‘Victory Gin’, so that became the focus of the song, but by the end it became more about feeling tired of everything.
Let It Blah
This one is the only one that I had actually played with a band, and the only one I wrote with someone else. I used to have a band with some friends in Sydney called Lucky 13, and the drummer (Nina Caxambu) brought the first verse and the chorus for me to write the music part, and together we finished the rest of the lyrics and ended up rehearsing the song. We played it once in our last gig together, but the song always stuck with me and it’s probably one of my favourite songs I ever wrote.
Part Of Me
This one is the “meta” song of the album, it’s about the struggle and the pleasures of making art, writing songs, the feeling of being doubtful and proud at the same time. This is a song that I would want to do more with one day, I wish I knew how to play trumpet to be able to play the end of the song on a trumpet instead of the guitar. One day.
Cinderella 44
This one was actually not recorded with the others. This song I recorded in 2013, I had a friend from Brazil visiting and he was saying how picky I was about things, and called me a cinderella. Now thinking about it, it doesn’t make much sense, but we were drunk so it was funny then, and the 44 is the shoe size (in Brazilian numbers). Again, the song came about very quick a few days later, I was mucking about with the riff and just went to the garage and wrote the lyrics as I was recording it.
Don’t Be Upset
Remember when I said earlier that people sometimes walk out of me playing because of the nature of my songs, ah well, this one is for them. I once had a chance to sing this song as a group of people were leaving the bar and got to wave goodbye to them. They took it well, there was some laughing.
Once For All
This one is another one that it’s a bit about finding a self-truth I guess, I have become over the years more and more against religion and its impact on society, so I tried the make a definitive instatement about religion, as I said I tried, don’t think I succeeded, but it works as a song.
Last Blues Into The Sun
Here is another song that was not recorded together with the rest, this one is the very first song that I ever recorded. I bought a cheap USB mic, plugged it in, played some chords, layered some other licks on top and by the end of it I decided that if playing music was not gonna be my bread winner, recording it was plan B. In a way, this one started this whole thing I guess.
A Night Out With G Man is out now.
