Track of the Week "The Fake Fences of Abazon Remix" by A Million Things is a remix of "Fences", originally composed by French rock outfit Phoenix. “I simply took the lead vocals from one of my favorite Phoenix songs and re-imagined the entire track. Set in a different place altogether, inspired by the West African backdrop of Chinua Achebe's novel Anthills of the Savannah, which I was reading at the time,” says Tiago Correia-Paulo of A Million Things.
One can immediately tell that the track carries nuances unique to Correia-Paulo, and his Japanese-art-of-paper-folding manner of production. Bending here and creasing there, the West-African influence gives the track a new dimension, with his natural ability to sculpt powerful new sounds from whatever blank canvas is placed in front of him. Seamless and fluid, the track has an immaculately textured nature, made from a combination of soaring digital sounds alongside organic layering of infectious guitars, tight percussives and resounding bells.
Correia-Paulo is a Johannesburg-based producer, guitarist and DJ originally from Maputo, Mozambique. After the graceful exit of Afro-dub pied pipers 340ml and hip-hop outfit Tumi & The Volume, he has worked on various projects including Zaki Ibrahim’s Every Opposite, The Brother Moves On’s Good Times and audio works for Lanterns of Nedzu, a story conceptualised, developed and illustrated by Rui Tenreiro featuring a full soundtrack composed and produced by Correia-Paulo. At the same time, he is experimenting with a different style of documentary about his hometown and waiting for an artist residency he has booked for January 2015 in the Democratic Republic of Congo with a contemporary dance choreographer that has caught his fancy. His latest endeavour, A Million Things, sees him lining up a few shows into the new year.
“A Million Things has two different incarnations. One is myself sharing a stage with Pedro Pinto (340ml vocalist) and a huge screen, and the audience can listen and watch us doing a live score of a bunch of different stuff... It's hard to explain," says Correia-Paulo. "The other side of A Million Things is just yours truly DJing with a bunch of instruments and effects over my own stuff, other people's stuff, some of my remixes, my mash-ups, etc. I'm also trying to start a third incarnation of A Million Things, which would be a full live band.”
Whatever comes of A Million Things and all it’s incarnations, it is sure to please.
