For some reason, over the past week or so people that actually read this blog have been telling me that they take an interest in it and what I do. This is pretty amazing really as up until now it really has felt like I’m writing to the void.  In a peculiar way it is quite fitting that this week’s post was intended to be more of a listen than a read…

My newest song is called ‘Don’t Get Carried Away’.  I wasn’t entirely sure  what I was going to do with it but my partner in crime for Henry Spencer Project, Pia Berg, said she’d think it cool if we used it.  As this song is a bit of a cross-pollination between different interests I would like to talk a bit about it…

Don’t Get Carried Away is the third song that I have written as a solo effort (not taking into account a few singer’s-point-of-view suggestions Pia has made!)  My first one is posted on my music page but this one really has been a sort of maturity in my songwriting.  Have a listen to Don’t Get Carried Away while you read by clicking here.

First of all, the main guitar part isn’t mine… Lesley Flower wrote this after her first guitar lesson with me. I concentrated on getting her to make sounds and to strengthen her fingers.  I find no value in teaching people songs when they want to learn the instrument and actually use it.  Replicating a song is for iTunes and technique can be picked up other ways. I was very pleasantly surprised when she showed me the result of her efforts.  She was making her own tunes not playing a half-baked Oasis song…  However, it seems she did pick up my style somewhat as the melody may even sound at home in a Lunar Rising song! …Anyway, I turned a metronome on and held a mic to the strings and asked her to play… As well as it being a pretty little melody, the awkward picking style only a beginner has lends a lovely innocence to the tune and I feel this really adds to a resulting lullaby feel.  Lesley messed around with some midi strings but I used the surrounding chords to see through my admiration for the tune in my own way…

The second influence has been through a development about subject matter.  Some that know me realise I’m quite opinionated on stuff that’s close to me (although I hope not in an obnoxious way!).  Through chatting to people on Twitter (as well as ‘real life’ friends!) I started to realise that some have the same opinions as me (for a change!). In particular, TheRealBobby004 said something about extremist Islam that really hit home with my beliefs and it was this conversation that led me to convey my ideas in this song. (if you’re on Twitter, follow him, he’s a nice guy and balances the all too popular general/ignorant views of what Islam can be. No, I’m not religeous by the way…).

Lastly, a seemingly minor contribution comes from the synth sound used in the song, especially at the break before the last chorus.  This may seem a small aesthetic contribution but it has derived from my blossoming interest in the more artistic, experimental side of sound/music.  I designed this sound for the art project I am creating with Lesley and I used the ‘Sculpture’ synthesiser that comes with the Logic Pro sequencer.  The sound came from the making of a soundtrack for one of Lesley’s photographs; part of the background in the photo is quite blurry and I wanted to convey this with a sound… Out of context and using different notes, the sound conveys a different notion….. but in any case enough of the waffling… If you haven’e heard the song yet, have a listen by clicking here.