Brother Noland

Music is the thread that has always run through and held Brother Noland’s life together. It doesn’t matter what else he may be focused on at any particular moment. Music is the means by which he expresses who he is and what his life is about. While he is a man of many passions, music is the consuming passion of his life.

His latest album, Mystical Fish, Brother Noland offers up a complete meal of contemporary Island music with the best band he has ever recorded with. Here, you will find new Brother Noland material; mixed together with covers of Bob Dylan’s Forever Young, Stevie Wonder’s Master Blaster as well as new recordings of his own songs, finally recorded at the time and by the band they were always meant to be performed by. In creating this exotic meal, Noland looks to the future while keeping one foot firmly rooted in his own history. Asked why he would record songs again, Noland said he uncovered the reasons why he wrote these songs and has finally come to understand them.

“Once I realized what these songs were really all about, how could I not record them…especially with this band of brothers who get me, support me and make these songs
come alive.”

It was simply the right time, definitely the right band and as a composer and musician, the right space to connect with his own work and what it means to him and to those who love his music.

Music is but one facet of what it means to be and connect with being Hawaiian. Noland is able to incorporate many of the tools that his ancestors into his 21st century life. “We are and have always been hunters, trackers, and fishermen.”

All of these skills command intense patience and understanding of where he fits into this world. These same skills feed his music and allow him to connect with not only his own original music, but with diverse music of various eras and genres. The result is a vocalist who can touch and communicate with more than one generation as well as music lovers of all genres.