Twisted Nerve’s best kept secret, David Tyack started out under the alias Dakota Oak before reverting back to his birth-name for a series of enchanting EPs and mini albums. A multi-instrumentalist, he’s also collaborated with label boss Andy Votel and drummed for acts on the label including D.O.T and Misty Dixon.
On Rip Van Winkle, he teams up with ex-Can singer Malcolm Mooney for a heartfelt tribute to Washington Irvine’s classic short story about an idle fellow who falls into a deep sleep and wakes up to find those he once knew have passed away. Mooney’s abridged reading was recorded in Yonkers?not far from the Catskill mountains where the story was set?while Tyack’s accompaniment was composed and produced in his hometown of Manchester, alongside the nine instrumentals that comprise the first half of the album.
The twist in the tale comes with the news that Tyack went to Corsica a few months after completing the project and never returned. There’s been no trace of the man?whom The Guardian recently compared to Debussy?since September. Friends and family continue to search for him.
Uncut hope he’s working on his new opus somewhere, because Rip Van Winkle is a bewitching album, and a fine introduction to one of Manchester’s finest young artists.
SARAH-JANE