Freshwater West

The origins of Freshwater West go back to the mid-1990s when Dave and Paul formed the deeply funky acid jazz combo Blue Train. They went on to have many releases on Phat Jam and 2Kool, often with Natalia as vocalist and with jazz trumpet maestro Steve Waterman as featured guest artists. By the time their Masters At Work released single Get Movin’ hit the US dance charts in 1997 Natalia had become a fulltime band member. Since then Dave has branched out into the plastic arts, exhibiting his pop paintings in London. The way he approaches art influences his songwriting and performing style, always bringing an edge and freshness to the mix while absorbing from the culture around him. Dave is a real foodie, a discerning moviegoer and general culture vulture. His mighty, elastic bass riffs power the band along from underneath whilst his guitar lines add a distinctive jazzy flavour. Ever-curious and endlessly eclectic, evolutionary Paul is somewhat of a techno legend in his own right. His solo releases Test Pattern and Go on Dave Angel’s Rotation imprint were huge underground hits, and he has had many releases on labels such as Rising High, Inspiral, and Bamboo Radical. He has exhibited his films widely in the UK and Japan, produced music for commercial film and TV, was a founding member of the Swansea Laptop Orchestra, and runs an independent record label. When he’s not remixing or producing, Paul teaches music technology and can often be found walking the hills of Wales, his current home.Natalia was born into a Spanglish family of artists and musicians (she is the granddaughter of poet Robert Graves and daughter of jazz legend Ramón Farrán, the composer who took bebop to Spain and has played drums with many of the greats) and studied Spanish literature, drama and singing in London. She has made a career out of music and words – as a session singer, lyricist, voiceover artist, translator, and interpreter for Spanish record labels, working with the same ease with obscure jazz musos as with international pop stars. Lead singer of the Spanish National Jazz Orchestra (the ONJAZZ) for almost two decades, her extraordinary versatility has taken her from doing backing vocals with huge Spanish punk-rock bands to touring Latin America with the ONJAZZ, dubbing Ann-Margret’s singing voice into Spanish, adapting the lyrics of Tim Burton’s Nightmare Before Christmas into Spanish, or duetting with the likes of Randy Brecker, or Spain’s answer to Tom Jones, Miguel Ríos. She is currently based in London and continues to write, record, perform and collaborate with musicians around the world.This is a band to look out for – if you like your pop music peppered with dark reflections, some acid humour and an all-encompassing, multicultural view of postmodern society, Freshwater West is it. Genre-defying, fun, classic and new. We urge you to check them out!