On the one side, he’s an adventure-loving idealist, crafting poetic indie-folk songs in sparkling guitar and synth arrangements that draw on his classical music training and indie-rock and electro-pop influences.
On the other, he’s a closet nerd and intellectual – a logical, multilingual, book-loving, Cambridge law graduate who relaxes between songwriting sessions by doing the Guardian cryptic crossword.
And yet the two aren’t a world apart. His love of words and their myriad meanings seeps into his lyrics. And he draws much of his inspiration from his voracious reading, just as comfortable exploring the worlds of others as he does hunting for ideas in his own life.
A scene from Virgil’s Aeneid inspired his upcoming single ‘Here In The Cave’, whereas ‘Spiral’ is the tragic story of 18th century French mathematician Evariste Galois (Ned’s favourite mathematician) who died aged 20 in a duel defending a lady’s honour. ‘Gentle Words’ is about Marshall Rosenberg’s “Nonviolent Communication” whilst Eckhart Tolle’s “The Power of Now” inspired ‘Forever Lost’. But at the heart of all of his songs, whatever the source, lies Ned’s attempts to reconcile his own inner tensions and insecurities.
Eintritt: Freie Spende
