LAFAYETTE - Fabian
Thibodeaux's music wouldn't sound out of place in a New York
nightclub, but his modern compositions flow from the pen of an
Acadiana native. The 22-year-old, born in Church Point, spends
his days in the Dupre Library at the University of Southwestern
Louisiana filing away government documents, but at night and on
weekends he's pounding out melodies on the keyboard of the grand
piano in his mother's living room. He composed all the songs on
his upcoming album "Dream of the Dead." He sings,
plays most of the instruments heard, and is producing it
himself. His production company, Is-A-Door Productions, takes
it's title from his real middle name, Isadore, which is pronounced
"Isadar" which will serve as his stage name.
"It's all a
dream," Thibodeaux says of his album's theme. "The
singer/character goes to sleep and awakens to 'Wake Up,' the 10th and
final song on the album." The songs on the album include
eerie, cold ballads; popping, driving dance music; and New Age
compositions. But the music is difficult to pigeonhole.
Even Thibodeaux can't put his finger on it. "I don't
know. I don't know how I would describe it," he says.
"My influences are Peter Gabriel, Kate Bush and Laurie
Anderson. They form a sort of creative pyramid in my psyche,
probably due to the fact that they've done some projects
together. I guess you could say I'm picking up where they left
off. We'll have to wait and see how it turns out."
The album is set
for production on compact disc this fall and will be distributed to
record shops in Lafayette, New Orleans and Baton Rouge, Thibodeaux
said. If he can swing some play on local radio stations, he'll
ship it off to record labels for their consideration, he said.
Thibodeaux is mixing the songs now at La Louisianne Recording
Studios. The songs are dominated by Thibodeaux's keyboards and
vocals, with additional work on the acoustic piano, oboe, and
flute. Saxophonist Dicky Landry, who toured Japan with
performance and recording artist Laurie Anderson, and the legendary
Rufus Thibodeaux, a Cajun fiddler, also play on the album.
Thibodeaux has
played the piano since the age of five. "My mother plays
the piano, but my oldest brother Dexter (nine years my senior) really
taught me as he was learning himself," he says. He learned
to play the other instruments performing in the high school marching
and concert bands in Church Point. It was during his senior
year, in 1986, when he transferred high schools and left all
traditional music programs due to a major disagreement involving his
band director, the school principal, and himself that he began
composing on piano. "It was a blessing in disguise,"
Isadar said of his negative experience. "Melodies came to
me as I played the piano," he says. "Before I knew
it, the music was there." A year later, he began adding
lyrics and finished "Wake Up." He's inspired by
television shows and books, especially science fiction.
"Songwriting is a personal thing," he
says. "Putting lyrics on paper can take from five
minutes to years. I get ideas and wait for them to
develop." He's financing the production of his album
himself, and living with his parents has enabled him to save enough
money to do it, Thibodeaux says. Thus far, the project has cost
approximately $6,000 and probably will total $15,000 before its
completion this fall, he says.
A USL graduate,
Thibodeaux was asked by USL's Theatre Professor/Director Laura Drake
to write a fresh musical score for the school's production of Megan
Terry's rock musical "Viet Rock." A memorial piece in
which Drake directed and dedicated to all victims of war. Four
instrumental mixes of songs from "Dream of the Dead" were
used in the production in which Thibodeaux wrote additional unique
melodies specifically to work with the show's lyrics.
He also performed
his New Age piano compositions at the Cafe des Artistes in downtown
Lafayette during October and November of 1989. Confident of his
ability, Thibodeaux hopes to be a successful producer and established
artist by the time he's 40.
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