Bigger Than Me
Distilling 2 decades of songwriting into 12 tracks, this is classic independent songwriting, dispatches from a bard at the edges, and the outsider’s view on belonging, nostalgia, and hope.
The title track:
2021 Feb
#NORDICNOIR (Story Recordings SRE015) is edgy, mysterious and provocative and rooted in dark Scandinavian drama. It’s a mixture of contemporary sound design, minimalist melodic, explosive percussion, and dissonant urban dystopias.
Hear "Secret Spies":
2020 Oct
"Big Screen Africa - Spirit of the Land" (Mama Dance MDML239) is a rousing collection of cinematic African orchestral music. It speaks of dignity, humanity and celebration with verve and charisma, expressed through the full emotional range of the orchestra.
Hear "Adventures Call":
2020 Aug
"Wonders Of Nature: Micro Life" (Evolution Music Media EMM320) zooms into a world of the small, the busy, the delicate and the strange.
Hear "Germination":
2020 June
“Nordic Nights” (Minds and Music MAM056) explores the music, myth and soul of the Scandinavian sensibility.
Hear “Days Of Night”:
2020 Mar
"Microtension" (EMM278) on Evolution Media Music. This pitch was interesting: use bare minimal harmony or melody but create maximum tension.
Hear “The Crunch”:
2019 Oct
Mystery Underscores (EMM275)
Dark, unnerving, pensive intrigue… as sleazy as you like.
Hear “Haunted Heart”
2019 Oct
“Light Afro Soundscapes” (MD206) are light, airy, positive and uplifting, for doccies, daily dramas, wildlife, nature, religious and corporate programming.
Hear “Joybeams”:
2019 July
“Dark Afro Soundscapes” (MD205) are deliciously dark and eerie drones and pulses for dramas, documentaries, crime shows, and current affairs productions.
Hear “Transmission:
2019 July
"African Desert Blues" (MD184)
In the mold of Tinariwen and Ali Farka Toure, a blues compilation with African guitar luminaries from Johnny Clegg Band, Freshly ground and Bright Blue.
This is my track "Harmattan Haze":
2019 January
“Wonders Of Nature - South America” (Evolution Media EMM203) is a collection of scores and themes inspired by Andean, Brazilian and Argentinian moods.
Hear "Proliferacion":
2019 May
"The One"
Based on Rumi’s timeless poetry, “The One” is a song cycle for strings and voices, and a sumptuous, exhilarating sacred journey towards Unity.
Hear "Fractal":
2019 March
"Aura - Mysterious ambient soundscapes". (BM108)
Smooth, spacious minimalism that creates a hypnotic and bleak mood.
Hear "Immensity":
2018 November
2018 September
"Made In Africa" (POP-PS-233)
20 fresh, upbeat African tunes from Southern township jive to Northern desert vamps created for German production library Popvirus.
This is "Doh Mi Ray":
2018 August
"Ambient Beds" (SFT 216)
Moody drones and subliminal tension to add vibe and atmosphere to any factual programming or drama series.
This is "Totem Pulse":
2018 April
“African Chillout” (BM100)
Don’ worry be ‘uppy: “African Chillout” is relaxing, fresh, contemporary African grooves on world production library Brilliant! Music.
This is "African Sundowner":
2018 Feb
“Valley Of The Shadow”
“Valley of the Shadow – Rites of Loss” is an evocative, eclectic suite for strings, voices and sound design. It explores the universal narratives of loss through moods like denial, bargaining and anger.
This is the overture, "The Gates Of Remembrance":
2015
“Haunting Beauty” (EMM146)
Graceful, delicate and emotive. Piano, strings, gentle electric guitars and atmospheric textures create an intimate, evocative sound in a filmic, minimal, contemporary classical idiom.
Here is "Too Late":
2018
“Lyrical Themes”
Nic Paton’s second album with Melbourne Production Library Strange Fruit is “Lyrical Themes” (SF 196). The key to this collection is its crafted melodic emphasis and often melancholic mood, with piano, winds, string quartet and wide-ranging plucked string instruments.
This is "Footprints Of The Dancer":
2017
“Pianism 2”
The second sensitive, elegant & minimal pianistic album by Nic Paton with a variety of hopeful, poignant and peaceful emotive moments. A beautiful album for life stories and emotionally complex scenes. (MD 158)
Hear "Always Knew You Had It In You":
2017
“Fairytales and Fantasy”
Rooted in fantasy, folklore and nature, this collection ranges from regal fanfare to delicate siren song, from fierce mythical conflict to solemn ritual, and from epic adventure to children’s lullaby. DNA Music.
"Kings and Queens":
2016
“Dramatic Themes”
Powerful, evocative music for television and cinematic use to headline and underscore thrillers, tragic dramas, espionage, and political intrigues. (SF 196)
"Don't Look Back":
2016
“Mana”
Chris Tokalon (R.I.P) and Nic Paton present “Book of Sand”, a comprehensive cross-cultural musical experience. Moving and mysterious, mischievous and impish, and at times surging with unbridled energy.
"Ancient Trails", soaring bansuri and earthy udu:
2016
“Heavenly Harmony – Evocative African Voices”
Deeply and authentically African and simultaneously universal and contemporary, these are powerful, emotive voice-rich soundtracks. (MD134)
This is "Sinking Down" featuring Ntutu Nyiki:
2016
“Our Daily Ukulele – Cheek and Charm”
Ranging between delicately plucked poignancy, sprightly African joyousness, thrashing carnival riffing and almost uncouth slapstick. (MD107)
Here's "Lanie":
2015
“North Africa – Arabic Inflections”
Captures the allure, beauty and energy of North African, Middle Eastern, and other World musical styles. (Also commercially released as “Mana”, above) (MD126)
"What was said to the Rose":
2015
Voxi
From one community’s experiments in music and contemplation, choral collective “voxi” has developed an intriguing, warm, spacious set of songs exploring ancient and contemporary spiritual traditions with awe, yearning, and gratitude.
Hear "Abwoon":
2013
“Wide Horizons”
Celebrate expansiveness, joyous adventure and awe, while also passing beyond the immediate field of normal vision into the darker, more numinous spaces of the soul. (MD118)
This is "Soaring":
2015
“Sun People”
Soulful vocals, scintillating guitars, vivid whistles and warm reeds, pulsating marimbas, and stately African strings, and a whole lot more.
Here's a 2 minute sampler:
2013
“Pianism – elegant, minimal, flowing piano themes”
Create space, style and expansiveness, to calm and cleanse, to uplift and affirm, yet hinting at deeper, darker wells of emotion and intrigue.
Here's a 2 minute sampler:
2012
“Wilderness within – soundtracks for creatures and cosmos”.
Tread ancient elephant trails, linger on an owl’s vigil, rollick with mischievous cubs. Innovative soundscaping, exotic instrumentation and sonorous cinematic orchestration.
Here's a 3 minute sampler:
2011
“Space and Story – soundtracks for mythmaking”.
Combining expansive cinematic forms, exotic World rhythms, and organic electronica, these soundtracks evoke moods from tender to heroic , from the quirky to the sublime.
Here's a 3 minute sampler:
2011
“Twana Toons – Playtime, Bedtime, Kiddies Time”.
From playful grooves and rambunctious riffs to sweet, soothing lullabies, “Twana Toons” is a cross-over of production-ready African children’s music. (MD40)
Here's a sampler:
2011
45 SPORTS POWER – Africa Scores
A Powerful and Energetic collection of Punchy beats, Winning grooves, Victorious percussion, Electro Vuvuzelas and Intense African vocals. (MD45)
Sample it:
2011
Sout Project
Emergent visionary Brian McLaren, dazzling African choir Siyaya, and traditional muse Madosini mixed with exotic instrumentation & organic electronica: Cape Town’s Sout Project present a startlingly fresh, eminently singable approach to the sacred: Story.
Here is "Circle":
More.
2009
The Middle Of It All
Nic’s first solo songwriter album after a 15 year hiatus. Acoustically wrought and electronically rendered, these tales of the hinterland are expressed via a new "DigiFolk" sensibility.
Here is "Bide My Time":
More.
2004
Jazzanians
African Jazz from the melee of apartheid era protest. Emerging from the University of KwaZulu-Natal jazz program under Darius Brubeck, Nic played saxophones and wrote the piece “Badisa”.
1988
Friends First
Afro – Gospel anti-apartheid extravaganza and Nic’s published songwriting debut, on which he contributed 4 songs including the title track.
1986