'Work With This' out now
Work With This
Zeppelin
This Is A Calling
Hove Beach And Eggshells
Luck Is Cruelty On The Wind
You Remain My North
Good Night
An album of seven new songs is now available for everyone here on my site, my Patreon and over at Bandcamp.
As a thank you to all Patrons it’s available to download to everyone subscribing, including all at the €3 tier. Please consider signing up over there to support me directly.
I suppose here is the place to share some words about the making of this one.
My last album ‘The Ghost Is The Only One That Beats My Drum’ came out in December and whilst I might usually go and play some concerts or get out of the house for some weeks that hasn’t really been an option recently, so I just carried on working on songs. Some of the ways I was working whilst making that album didn’t really change and often things that were started back then just kept bubbling away over time. Slow cooking. I think that’s apparent on a few of the songs here - the ones based on a rhythm and with more percussive stuff in particular. There’s a link, as always, between the albums, but here it’s like I didn’t stop. I suppose I didn’t stop.
This time there’s no one else playing on the thing and it’s generally a little tighter written and structured I think. I cut a lot away, despite there still being a couple of longer songs there. I’ve never been as brave or ruthless an editor as I should be.
‘Zeppelin’ was a song called ‘Four’ that I started about 15 years ago and was originally based around a Neil Young guitar feedback sample. I don’t think I ever played it live but it’s likely that the recording was released ages ago, perhaps on an edition of the ‘Church Boat’ CD or something around 2005. I don’t think anyone will recognise it but if you do please let me know.
Likewise, ‘Hove Beach And Eggshells’ isn’t an old song but is somehow about events that happened around that time when I lived on the south coast of England. Recently I found myself trying to care for a young crow and I think it brought back sentimental memories of nesting gulls.
I’m playing concerts again, starting this week.. No idea if I’ll get to try any of these out but let’s see.
Thanks everyone, have a lovely week.
Stephen