NC Live at Poolbar Freiburg | 2.2. 20 UHR | doors 19:00
Ned Collette dives into the European night for a short run of winter shows at the end of January. Rolling through southern Germany towards two nights in a row in Paris following his long-delayed return there in December; a gallery show in Hamburg; a trip to the miraculous Efesto House in Bologna. A new stillness has taken shape in the music, surfacing after a year of presenting and reimagining his latest album ‘Our Other History’ around the world—from Nebraska to Glasgow to New Zealand. The songs are quieter and ever more intense, expansive, but threaded together by his almost spoken words and the glimmering dream of the music around them.
“Ned’s music wears its modernity subtly and surely and is as rewarding a listening experience as I’ve come across.” – Will Oldham
Australian/New Zealander Ned Collette has long established himself as a songwriter whose literate, evocative songs are paired with music that's both adventurous and eclectic. His albums exist inside a dynamic flux of folk, jazz and avant rock, and his long list of regular collaborators include members of the Dirty Three, The Necks, the folk singer Leah Senior,and many other luminaries of contemporary music.
Collette’s songwriting, combined with his early background in improvised and experimental music, has resulted in seven albums of uncompromising vision, released on a variety of international labels. These are produced mostly out of his studio in Berlin, where he has been based since 2010. Funny, haunting and sad, often all at once, the music nonetheless manages to remain plain-spoken and uncluttered. His most recent album Our Other History was released late in 2024 on Ryan Davis’s Sophomore Lounge label and immediately garnered unanimously stellar reviews. 2018’s double LP Old Chestnut(Feeding Tube) is a deep and complex folk song-cycle featuring many instrumental explorations between the songs. His live performances drift between delicate, intimate folk and sonic exploration, both when performing solo or in various band combinations.
In addition to his song work, he has released works such as 2019’s Afternoon—Dusk, a trio record of long-form instrumental music with James Rushford and Joe Talia, and presented solo compositions in gallery environments such as Munich’s Haus Der Kunst in 2020. 2022 saw a vinyl reissue of his 2006 folk debut, Jokes & Trials, the liner notes for which describe “a rich velvet voice somewhere between fragile youth and aged sage”. Over the years Collette has collaborated and toured with such artists as Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy, Joanna Newsom, Cat Power, Bill Callahan, St Vincent, Kurt Vile and Deerhoof, amongst many others. In 2025 he appeared for the first time at End Of The Road festival in the UK and has previously played festivals throughout Europe, Australasia and the USA.
