Move along

Move along, nothing to see here…

Just a chap getting on with recording his latest album. That’s exciting internally but as far as the outside world’s concerned…pffft!

It shows how long the process has taken this time that I’ve gone from having to have the fan going to cool things down to, now, having to put the radiators on well before I go in to start work for the day.

Things are now at the stage where if I were a writer of prose I’d be spending a good deal of time staring vacantly into space. In both that discipline and this one (of music) one has to wait for the right tone to be struck, the word to arrive.

Words (The Lyrics) *have* arrived in the current project and so have top lines, so there’s a semblance of lead vocal now laid down on all tracks. Whether they’ll all survive – or whether they need to be bolstered by harmonies or supported/undermined by B Vox – is, of course, a matter for the future.

So, it’s an album of songs, that’s established. But the nature of the songs here is a long way from conventional, even by my standards. I won’t go further than that at this stage, save to say that only a couple of pieces here come from what might be considered a traditional starting point.

Hence the staring into space. I have to look to fill in on what are already angular and/or skeletal structures. Generally that means deciding upon an improvisational angle to come in on – and, instinctively, finding a sound/instrument which will suit. Once those things are decided I’m doing my best to work quickly and in the moment. It’s the run-up to the moment that takes the time…

I’m not looking to myself for virtuoso stuff , naturally. But by now I’m more or less aware of my own capabilities and am comfortable enough in not having anything to prove that any attempts at showing off would be useless in any case. Economy of effort and of expression are ever more important to me.

As ever, once I’ve decided on a given course of action I go into record from the very outset. Often the first unknowing stab at a part will have a charm and naturalness which more considered efforts lack.

Well, this one’s still got another couple of months in the making, I reckon, by the time the holiday season has swung around. Doubtless it’ll be quite different from the current state of things as well in its finished form.

It’s now at that point where every song could go in a number of different directions and I’m free – and delighted – to follow each one. Later, things which I’ve spent hours on will be discarded. But they all have to be tried and tested to reach that stage…

Pauses, sits. Stares at the screens. Grabs a guitar….

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