Well, the year has been so busy I've been rather remiss in blogging and thereby keeping everyone up to date with what's been going on.
The BIG news is that today sees the release of the album, 'Rise Up'. More about that in a moment. But last month also saw the release of the single, 'Largo', itself taken from the album.
These events also coincided with an island hopping and life affirming trip to Hawaii, delayed from 2020, which had also taken up a fair bit of valuable promotional time, but certainly refocused the creative energies.
So, onto 'Rise Up'. The album comprises 8 songs written over a 10 year period. Some had been older tracks which did not fit in with the 'Higher Lovers' album and newer songs spanning the end of my MA Songwriting course and those which represent a bridge to newer material which is to be released from Summer this year.
The production of the album started during the pandemic and my work with Paul Tipler, a musical genius in his own right, who has worked with the likes of Idlewild, Placebo, Stereolab, Transglobal Underground and Julian Cope amongst others. He produced versions of 'Snap Bang' and 'Kiss Me On The Lips', which were the first singles from the album and which were released last autumn. The basic tracks were recorded in my home studio, with Paul adding and subtracting as he saw fit. New vocals were done here with post production again handled by Paul at Unit 13 Studios in London.
Two of the other songs, 'Everybody Thinks I'm Nice' and 'Love is Broken', were taken from sessions with Dominic Bailey-Clay at 9 Volt Leap Studios, where we did the 'Higher Lovers' album. These keyboard based tracks which I'd written and recorded after the end of the 'Higher Lovers' sessions, representing something of a change in direction. The instrumental tracks were recorded at home with vocals recorded at 9 Volt Leap. Thanks to Dom, if I do say so myself, Love is Broken' is one of my best vocal performances.
Two of the other tracks, 'Strobe' and 'Circles', were songs which pre-dated the 'Higher Lovers' album sessions which I'd always felt deserved a proper treatment. As such I added new vocals to the tracks which were recorded at home and these were polished by Matt O'Donnell at Untapped Talent Studios in Southampton.
Matt also produced the title track, 'Rise Up' and the newest track, 'Largo', for which the backing tracks were done at home but the vocals recorded at Untapped Talent. 'Rise Up' went through a number of treatments, from a mellower, blissed out initial version, to the crunch mix which finished the album, the final refrain echoing the riff from 'Snap Bang', the opening track. I have to thank Dean G Hill, my manager at the time for prompting this beefing up of proceedings, from making my life a complete nightmare for just over a year and for eventually leading me to faith in my own judgement.
So there we have it, 'Rise Up'. Sonically it tells a story of the past few years and points toward the direction of 'Alibis', the next album which will be released later in the year. For the moment though I hope you listen and enjoy it. You will be singing along in your head, so I'm told. Everyone involved has their own ear worms hard at work.
So 'Rise Up' and 'Light Up The Sky' today.
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