My first time working with the very talented Tim Matthews, who I recorded here in my little studio. The unmistakable Kane Chamberlain (The Juniper Club) there providing the harmonies too. I feel like this is a slight change of direction for my song-writing, and one I plan to continue in. Hope you enjoy.
One of my explorations in what I call 'Clean Guitar Rock' (my jazzer friends assure me these guitars are far from clean), this song went through many iterations to become what you hear now. This finished demo was made by Read more
One of my explorations in what I call 'Clean Guitar Rock' (my jazzer friends assure me these guitars are far from clean), this song went through many iterations to become what you hear now. This finished demo was made by me in a garden room called Charlene at my house in Oxford using a Tascam Model 12, the vocal parts being subsequently replaced by Dave Mikulskis (of the Chicago area band Hi Infidelity) and mixed and mastered back in my shed.
A kind of 80s radio ballad, beautifully sung by my good friend Mike (www.michaelkentish.com), and other than that put together by me at home on the Tascam. "It's only love, girl!" Is a line I wouldn't write today, but is preserved here in delay-drenched glory.
An 80s pop rock 'story song'. I was always worried the vocal line in the verse was too close to that in You Can't Look Back by Taking Back Sunday (before I realized they were both basically Boys Of Summer). Great vocal from Mike, other than that performed by me in my studio, Charlene.
Another track that took on a lot of different forms before this one (it has been a traditional style drinking song among other things). Slightly bleak lyric, which I think works, and in the third verse you get to hear Dave Mikulskis singing in his boots and out of character. Other than his parts, this one was recorded and mixed by me.
An acoustic rock song with a theme of loss. Sweet natural vocal from Mike here. Having always liked the Danny Wilson song Mary's Prayer I wanted to write a story that followed a passage of time, verse by verse, as theirs Read more
An acoustic rock song with a theme of loss. Sweet natural vocal from Mike here. Having always liked the Danny Wilson song Mary's Prayer I wanted to write a story that followed a passage of time, verse by verse, as theirs does. Of course, unlike my Dee their Mary had the good sense never to have been given a surname (Dee DeVine was a name I invented to fit phonetically where it needed to in the vocal line, and which lends some playful alliteration to the song's title [itself obviously an echo of David McWilliams's 'Days Of Purley Spencer']); Some very late-in-the-day googling tells me that all sorts of Dee DeVines are currently engaged in various wheezes right here in the real world. (Who knew!) Well, this song is about none of them (I picture my Dee as something like Greta Gerwig in the film Frances Ha, if you want to know). Anyway, as usual this one was recorded in my studio, Charlene, with Mike remotely engineering his parts at his place.
