Albums
David has made many albums both solo and in bands. As a guitarist, he has played in many bands including The Mutton Birds, Teeth and Six Volts. Many scores have been released as OSTs.
All Things, Will Stay, Silent
A sort of companion album to Ash and Bone. Being released on October 31st by Rattle Records. Click play to listen to some snippets.
Ash and Bone
This album by David Long defies easy generic tags. Acoustic electronica, alt- folk, alt-chamber music or experimental instrumental are vaguely in the ballpark, but as David says, his music makes a constellation of these musical styles but never quite rests in any one of them.
‘I was listening to a lot of electronica and Bollywood as I wrote these pieces and the influence seemed to rub off. It resulted in a set of pieces that combine unusual tonal colours and strange broken sounds that inhabit a space between acoustic and electronic worlds.’
Players on the album: Mark Carter (trumpet), Rachel Vernon (bass clarinet), Pat Barry (clarinet), David Long (banjo, guitars, electronics), Carolyn Mills (harp), Bridget Douglas (flute), Andrew Jarvis (tuba), Riki Gooch (percussion and electronics), Graham Kennedy (recording engineer). Cover by Karl Maughan.
TEETH
‘If a guitar band is as good as its best riff, then Teeth is a very good guitar band indeed. The only problem is picking which riff is their best, from such a multitude of good ones’ —Nick Bollinger
McLaren
The score for McLaren (Dir. Roger Donaldson) is on itunes and Spotify. In 2018 David won an APRA award for Best Original Music for McLaren.
Beyond The Edge
‘One of my favourite pieces of music of this year even; certainly one I’ve played the most.’ —Simon Sweetman, Off the Tracks
This music was composed for the motion picture Beyond The Edge (dir. Leanne Pooley).
Salty
Salty is the second album by The Mutton Birds released in 1994. Four songs — ‘The Heater’, ‘Anchor Me’, ‘In My Room’ and ‘Ngaire’ — reached the top 20 in the New Zealand singles chart with ‘The Heater’ reaching No.1
O Potassium
‘A thoroughly rewarding, sometimes slightly demanding, venture into a very different kind of aural outer'n'inner space.’ —Graham Reid, Elsewhere
Utterance
‘entrancing and quite extraordinary collection of soundscapes... daring.. evocative..’ —Graham Reid, Elsewhere
Acid & Alkaline
‘... if we knew what we were doing, it wouldn't be research, would it?’ —Albert Einstein
Other Albums
From Cross Creek (4 Eyes, 2008) bandcamp
From Come on In (as Slim Volume, Braille, 2001)
Groups
TEETH Slowboat Records
The Labcoats, O Potassium! www.roughpeel.co.nz
with Richard Nunns and Natalia Mann, Utterance Rattle Records
The Songs of Kurt Weill www.plan9music.co.nz
The- Labcoats, Acid and Alkaline www.plan9music.co.nz
Metabolists (with Jeff Henderson and Riki Gooch)
Dancing with The WotWots (words by Martin Baynton)
The Mutton Birds, Envy of Angels
The Mutton Birds, Salty
The Mutton Birds, The Muttonbirds
The Six Volts, Stretch
The Six Volts, The Hills Are Alive
Rabbitlock
Jungle Suite, A Walk of Snipe
“David’s work reminds me of the Japanese tradition of wabi-sabi — the practice of repairing a broken ceramic with veins of gold. He does this with his music. He deconstructs it and then rebuilds it in a way that is so beautiful and unique”.
— Sean MacDonald