Skip to navigation | Skip to content

Coldwater

“Ysanne’s voice is like Emmy Lou Harris mixed with a young Marianne Faithful, with a pinch of Nico from the Velvet Underground” Susan Sandberg

“Sounds like a female Leonard Cohen mixed with a female Nick Drake, this is so beautiful!” DJ Rotary Rachel, Luxuria FM

“Plaintive, yearning, poignant and graced with lashings of strings. An exceptional artist!” David J

Ysanne’s Album Blog

February 19, 2012

It’s 22.22 and my weekend was officially donated to the re-creation and recording of Rum Cove. It sounds amazing, it’s the longest song yet at 5 minutes 53 seconds, and it’s the wordiest, most intense and darkest song on Coldwater. A love song still, but this is tough love…

A sea shanty, a pirate song, a song about two men, old compadres of each other, only one of whom is known to me. While one is a little unhinged, and the other has many extraordinary personal traits, both are cut from the same cloth. Both are ‘Rum Coves.’

“And what does that mean?” I hear you mutter…

Well, it’s a gypsy phrase. ‘Rum’ meaning both ‘good’ and ‘bad’ at the same time (not unlike the slang use of the words ‘wicked’ or ‘sick’), and ‘Cove’ simply being the Romany word for ‘Man’

Rum coves, I have known a few.

But these two, the blood brothers of my song, well. They’re the ones who made it into the song, because I cared enough to write about our tale and sing it, to boot. Strong medicine, exhausting.

And sing it I did, through a real echo chamber (not a computer plug-in) that my friend Stefan built himself in his studio, Ultrasound, here in Downtown LA. Yes, an echo chamber, a U67 mic and an Amek mixing desk were all present and correct to capture my very simple voice and acoustic guitar recording, all recorded simultaneously.

Next up, writing charts for the orchestra…. sea-faring charts for shanty pirate strings, waves of emotion and rocks to beware of, shark-infested waters and adventures with sirens.

Rum Cove!

 

February 17, 2012

Making my way back into the heart of the music, emerging from Kickstarter world and the organisation thereof, and back into the pure creation.Writing songs, hearing strings. Keyboard is set up, space is being made to write charts. But the words keep flowing as my songs morph, and I know the only thing to do is to head the muse and spill words to the page.

Strong medicine tonight, true ‘a-ha’ moment, recognizing a deep and hideous pattern that probably everyone else could see. But for me, a light was shined tonight, and I didn’t flinch, searing though it was.

 

February 14, 2012

Played a show tonight at HM157 as the troubadour for a wonderful vegan dinner love feast! Set list was:

February 8, 2012

I’ve been receiving many messages from you every day, but this email from a lady called Colleen is particularly moving and special. I thought I should share it with you:

“Hi.

I thought the song was LOVELY, my kids and I listened to it together. If I had the funds I would had pledged for you to write a love song for me. My husband passed away last year unexpectedly. I met him when I was seventeen and we fell in love on first sight, engaged within a few months, and married when I turned eighteen. We had a love that grew every day and a life filled with happiness. We had thirty eight of the most wonderful years together, my only regret was that we didn’t get to grow old together. Today marks his eighth month passing. He is, was, and will always be my one and only love.

Thanks for listening and inspiring us with your music,

Regards
Colleen”

 

February 6, 2012

So my Kickstarter campaign ended last night with 131 people on board and $6,552 in the kitty! I’m so thankful to all of my cherubs! Today and tomorrow are set aside to make sure everyone gets their rewards, to work on this website, to meet with my music lawyer, David Lessoff, to meet the T shirt silk screen guys, and the BPAL faeries at their Full Moon event on Tuesday.

Oh, and why am I working on this website? Well, it’s because my friend Shamal Ranasinghe at Topspin contributed to my Kickstarter campaign by gifting me a Topspin account! You’ll see what this means soon… hopefully, you’ll see it by Valentine’s Day.

Anyway, on Wednesday I’m back in the studio with Alain Whyte and Susan Sandberg. We’re still working on ‘I Hadn’t Done That In A While‘ which is the song in the live video and the ‘How Can You Resist??!!!!’ video… both of them directly underneath this blog post.

And of course, this week I shall be writing charts for the orchestra!!! And I’ll be doing this EVERY week for the next few months. Because although I’m totally able to write the charts for a song in 24 hours, my favourite way to make strings arrangements is to write charts and tweak them. And then tweak them. And to make a little change here or there over time, and then to tweak them a little more… because that’s how it gets to be really beautiful, building slowly over time. That way, there’s time for angels and muses to visit my dreams, and to whisper their exquisite suggestions to make the strings shimmer…

Meanwhile, this week there’s SO MUCH TO DO!!! xxx

January 24, 2012

January 23, 2012

January 17, 2012

And a big THANK YOU to Daniella Jaeger, Amanda Wall, Beth Allan and Shaun Holt!!!! xxxxx

January 8, 2012

We hit the minimum Kickstarter target in 36 hours!!!!!!! THANK YOU SO MUCH to all of our amazingly generous pledgers, I totally LOVE you all so much!!!! AND, please keep sharing and pledging, because although the minimum target figure will get the first song on the album to have the orchestra, it would be wonderful if we can keep going and get the orchestra on every song!!!

Here’s some quotes about the record to encourage you to pledge!

“Intimate and touching songs with an organic array of strings!” Kevin Dippold

“Ysanne brings passion, creativity and love to all projects and the results are always breathtaking. It is a pleasure to know her and honor to work with her.” Kerry Brown

“Your songs transport me to a mythical garden of unearthly delights.” Christa Collins

“Wow. Wonderfully deep lyrics.” Matt Dean, movie producer

“A GREAT art project” Thomas Negovan, art curator

“Huge congratulations.” Bill Shapiro, Editor in Chief, Life Magazine

January 6, 2012

And the Kickstarter campaign is LIVE tonight!!!

January 1, 2012

Happy New Year to you, me and this baby rattlesnake! Such a perfect thing, to come across this beautiful wild animal that is sacred to the local Chumash Indians as a symbol of transformation. Strong medicine, feel so blessed up here on the mountain.

Worked through midnight last night, only noticed the time around 12.30 a.m. because I was so engrossed in music. Perfect start to this year of Music and Transformation, Love and Light!

December 30, 2011

Friends coming up the mountain for dinner tonight, probably a good thing they are because I’ve been going slightly la-la up here on my own in the mountains with only the coyotes for company! By the way, did I mention the grand piano?! “I Hadn’t Done That” is sounding amazing played on the piano, because there’s a B flat chord I can thrown in on the piano, but I can’t really do it on guitar (although I’m certain Alain can, no problemo:)

December 27, 2011

My friends Sue and Alex asked me to be their dog-sitter at their incredible amazing ranch in Malibu, so I arrived today along with the strings family, three acoustic guitars, my Rode NTK microphone, antique Motu 828 and my laptop. The idea is, music retreat. Practicing, honing the songs, and perhaps recording them while I’m here, on top of a mountain, away from everything.

December 19, 2011

Excited that acclaimed New York-based Japanese Butoh dancer

Vangeline has selected two songs from Coldwater for The Vangeline Theater show in New York, March 2012. She is a rare talent, and I cannot wait to see how she physically interprets the emotion in these songs.

These songs are absolutely from the heart, torn from my breast with an aching hand, and so I feel so secure to send them off to New York to Vangeline’s own gentle breast, and to see how they are inspiring to her own loving touch.

December 16, 2011

Twisted week, all topsy turvy with Christmas coming, the Great Los Angeles Freeze upon us, and my Kickstarter campaign building at an exciting pre-launch pace. And so I’m delighted that in the middle of all this I managed to make time to record two strong demos of these songs:

‘The Message’
‘Forbidden Fruit’

And today, as a fabulous finale to the week, I was in the studio with Alain Whyte and a new friend, Susan Sandberg. I’d arrived to add strings to some songs they’d been working on, but was so inspired by one of the songs that I asked if they’d consider letting me sing it for my album. I’m delighted they both immediately were up for it, and so I now have a new beautiful song to record ready for you:

‘I Hadn’t Done That In Awhile’

It’s a down tempo little number, probably the jolliest and sauciest tune on the album, with an old-fashioned dose of subtle innuendo and a gentle Nashville swagger. I do hope you’ll enjoy it when it’s ready for y’all. Due to go work with Alain again on Tuesday, so it should be in the can fairly soon. Susan says it sounds like Emmy Lou Harris mixed with Marianne Faithful and Nico, and I’m gonna take that!

Next week, I’ve got a bunch of studio time booked laying down strings for other projects, and a whole lot of focus on getting my Kickstarter campaign on the road. That’s right, I’m going to get an orchestra on this album with your assistance, gentle listener!

More about that very soon x

December 11, 2011

Had a little Twitter chat this morning about The XX with my pal

@davesjessica and I realise the perfect time and place to record all three of the new songs currently slated…

Gonna hole up in my mountain cabin on Tuesday and hope to record all three:

‘Jellyfish’
‘Forbidden Fruit’
‘The Message’

How does this relate to The XX? Well, it doesn’t really, other than the fact that they capture authentic emotion in their songs, which is what makes them so good. And believe me, so do I.

Coldwater has that level of tender heart and pure emotion.

And so on Tuesday, I’ll hide and share intimacy…

December 9, 2011

A beautiful day in the garden clearing spent kale and the last of summer’s melon vines, and planting Spring flower bulbs for fresia, narcissi, anemones and ranunculus. Back down the mountain from the garden in Malibu in perfect time for a simply breath-taking sunset, a few electronic messages sent and received on the iPhone as the sun’s rays faded into the short total lunar eclipsed night, and then back in the car down PCH to my mountain cabin in Topanga for a sweetly restful night.

So was the plan, but actually, looking at this description of my day, is it any wonder that a new song was born tonight? I mean, songwriter + natural beauty = song, right?

And this is how ‘The Message‘ came to be written. And boy is it simple, light and beautiful.

December 5, 2011

And work commences again on this album! Looking forward to recording ‘Forbidden Fruit‘ and ‘Jellyfish‘ very soon, I wonder wonder when and where this will unfold…?

November 25, 2011

Change of plan. I’m going to save the Kickstarter orchestra thingummy until after Christmas. So much going on right now with David and with the Ant Farm, doesn’t allow the space to properly focus on running a campaign. And let’s face it, you guys are already thinking about Christmas.

Plus my friend Tom suggested I consider a Valentine themed project, and I think he is onto something with this idea. As he said, nothing more romantic than a big lush orchestra for a gorgeous love song album.

More about this in a month or so from now. Meanwhile, I really must record two songs as soon as possible, it’s burning me up inside to get them down on tape.

November 20, 2011

After much internal debate, I decided to bite the bullet and launch a Kickstarter campaign to get a big juicy Orchestra. David recently had me play a super fun show with him for a Golden Ticket winner of a competition. The winner, Jenna Kay, invited a few guests (it was also her birthday so she was uber-stoked!), and two of the guests were a lovely couple, Dustin Lane and Sherry Lee. Dustin makes music videos, and Sherry is a music stills photographer, so when my thoughts turned to making a video for my Kickstarter, they immediately came to mind.

I emailed them two days before the shoot to see if they were available, and lo and behold, they were! And so it looks very likely indeed that my campaign will be ready to rock on Thanksgiving. Meanwhile, check out Sherry’s photos from the night we all met, and Dustin’s video

A top night!

November 12, 2011

October was a crazy whirlwind with David J’s album launch and zillions of other projects for him, and then out of the blue the Twilight: Breaking Dawn tour with Christina Perri. Your gentle understanding is much appreciated, I just didn’t quite find a moment to do anything substantial towards my album.

That is, until today, when the muse suddenly took me, and lo and behold a new song was born.

‘Forbidden Fruit’

Perhaps one of my best, it’s not unlike ‘The Orchard’ in that it’s inspired by an affair of the heart, but more honestly, it’s really a song about yours truly.

I’m going to need a TON of strings for this one, it’s lavish, dark as the night, and infused with the essence of my Twilight tour meditations. How could I not be inspired by that experience?! How could you not find beauty in this expression also??!

As with all of the songs on my album, I shall reveal them simultaneously when they have been recorded, produced, mastered and completed. Until then, patience, my pretties, and I do so appreciate your excited and supportive messages. Thank you!

October 11, 2011

Recorded a simple version of ‘Jellyfish‘ with Kevin Dippold (Smashing Pumpkins) today. I recorded the vocals and acoustic guitar simultaneously in one take, no click track, and then multi-tracked three cello tracks, two violas and two violins.

The melody and chords are the same, but… the lyrics are 100% different. It’s a protest song called ‘Reloveution‘ and was inspired by Occupy LA. I shall be releasing it very soon as a $1 downloadable MP3, with all of the cash going to support Occupy LA.

The final version of Jellyfish will be very different in terms of lyrics and vocal delivery, but also it will be very different in terms of the strings… VERY different.

I have a BIG strings plan in the works…

October 10th, 2011

Re-worked the lyrics for ‘Special Things.’ Very pleased with them!

September 19th, 2011

A founder member of

Sparks, and one of the producers of Concrete Blonde‘s classic album Bloodletting, Earle Mankey is an LA underground legend. Steven Severin (Siouxsie and the Banshees) is a fan of his, so it worked out very nicely that I brought a 2″ tape to Earle’s studio today to transfer onto digital files for easier listening.

The 2″ tape was recorded in 2004 at Toerag Studios in London, where The White Stripes recorded Elephant, and where I recorded two songs with Steven Severin on guitar and Amina Bates (Scanners) on guitar. The songs are called ‘Special Things‘ and ‘The Highest Mountain‘.

Also on the tape are two early versions of ‘Rum Cove‘, which I since developed with Alain Whyte and David J. It’s primed to be recorded by the three of us at Coldwater Studio.

The session today at Earle’s studio was strange, as I’d not heard these great recordings for 8 years. My voice has changed, unsurprisingly, especially in the delivery. I was more forthright back in London, more punk rock. The songs have matured well, they’re mellifluous now.

It was a pleasure to be able to work with Earle to salvage the band’s instrumental performances ready to rerecord my vocals sometime soon.

September 13th, 2011

Today I recorded ‘Roses‘ in one take. The whole session lasted about 10 minutes. It’s a 3 minute song, the rest of the time was spent setting up a mic and tuning the guitar down 2 tones. Then I just played the guitar and sang simultaneously and that was that. And my best friend says it’s maybe the best song on the album.

Looking forward to writing the string parts. When I get another spare ten minutes…

August 22nd, 2011

Progress on the record has been intermittent this month due to a combination of August-style factors, such as everybody touring /being on vacation /moving /partying, and getting ready for our exciting run at the Bootleg Theatre. But, I of course continue to play and tweek the songs, to refine the ideas, and to experience the experiences that form the content of this record.

Today I’m composing string parts for another major project (something I’m very excited about, but not ready to share quite yet), but of course, as I write that, I formulate ideas for this. That is how it works; all of the input and output of this creative vessel is connected.

If I’m playing my violin, it feeds into my songs. If I’m sewing, cooking, gardening, painting or crafting, I’m processing ideas and strengthening the emotional vessel that produces this record. If I’m writing music or writing words, it all exercises the synapses that spark this record.

Oh, and also there’s the admin side. Writing emails, connecting with a few talented individuals who may be able to move this project forward as soon as time permits.

July 30th, 2011

A quick update from New York… they don’t call this place Gotham City for nothing! While George Takei from Star Trek was in the building (yes, another day, another crew member from the Starship!) the muse took me strongly and swiftly, yea stealthily, and a song arose… ‘Roses‘

Oh, and I’ve been guerrilla gardening in Manhattan, sowing seeds and planting pumpkins all over the Big Apple. More about that

here

July 25th, 2011

I’m in New York at the Baryshnikov Arts Center for the project with Eric Lindley and all the amazing multimedia artists. But of course, this doesn’t mean the Coldwater Project is in any way on the side. Because musicians thrive on high quality beauty and like-minded souls, and Eric’s songs, while being very different from my own, also have an affinity. They’re bleak and yearning, achingly striped down and intimate. His world is consciously thought through, tiny inflections magnified, great cadences held back and sublimated. And so while much of my day is focused on the work at hand, the hours either side of the project will be spent crafting and re-crafting the Coldwater songs, imagining new instrumentations, new qualities, new unexplored areas of soreness and beauty. I’m focused on music and beauty, gentle ones, and this focus is only strengthened through my current New York adventure.

July 10th, 2011

It’s around midnight, and I’m feeling the gentle joy that comes with finding the turn of phrase coupled with a simplicity of chord to express an emotion. It’s so pure, so still, when I close my eyes it’s there, as solid as the emerald I wear on my finger, a familiar truth that’s impossible to speak of, but as real and undeniable as the stars above and the earth below.

This weekend saw Scorpio in the moon and an old friend in town, a dear old friend from another land, another time, another love. A lover from nearly 20 years ago! How can it be?! And yet how fresh the wounds and the gladness of such familiarity, of family in town.

Tonight I express my current emotions maybe more fluidly with this inspiration, but for sure with the sureness of knowing, that it is a very different emotion in the present, freed from the past. Softly I sing ‘Jellyfish’, a song that I wrote in 2005, and which was first recorded with a harpist in my first Hollywood apartment at the Villa Elaine, that rare hotel that has housed every wayward traveler’s first nights in this town, from Marilyn Monroe to Man Ray.

And now after all these years, ‘Jellyfish‘ is worked and re-worked and refined and sculpted and now played tonight for my audience of angels with a clarity, depth, truth and spirit that simply pleases me like medicine to a sore heart. It’s a relief, after a few wobbly days of emotional jelly and lost fish reality. That’s where these songs come from, you know… it’s all real.

Jellyfish.July 8th, 2011

Very pleased about tonight’s session with my pal Tony Green, an upright bass player who plays with accuracy, grittiness and grace. He was given the perhaps unenviable task of playing the bass guitar part of a cover version of a hugely successful and widely adored song, which I am going to simply refer to as

‘Mystery Song’ for now.

The original bass line is played by one of the world’s most extraordinary musicians, a man who plays pretty much every instrument with such technical and emotional clarity that Tony was slightly perspiring throughout the session. Luckily for me, he managed to play the line with just the balance of respect for the original, but difference in tone that I had hoped for.

July 5th, 2011

I’ve always had a thing about the Carter Family, and about June Carter Cash in particular. She came from a line of graceful, hard-working, talented women who toured the country, playing 6 nights per week and raising extraordinary families from the back of an old Ford Model T. Mother Maybelle and her sister-in-law Sara Carter overcame extreme hardship as working musicians during the Great Depression, singing Maybelle’s husband A.P. Carter’s songs about their lives filled with pain, pragmatism, spirit and sass. June Carter was a shining credit to her mother and grandmother, a caring, kind and talented woman with a deep spirituality, quick wits and a legendary capacity to love.

I love June, so I wrote this song, ‘June Baby’

It’s an homage to her and her love, Johnny Cash, and to their beauty. This song was recorded as a strings sensation, complete with violins, viola, cellos and harps behind a full guitar band. This lil video is just me singing and pickin’ Carter-style last night in Topanga at a small, intimate venue called Hillbilly Hip.

July 2nd, 2011

Revisiting a sea shanty from the past, namely

‘Rum Cove’, which I wrote in 2004 about a Rum Cove I encountered back then and our voyages together overseas.

“What’s a Rum Cove?!” I hear you cry, to which I reply… It’s a Romany gypsy phrase, tricky to translate accurately, but ‘cove’ means man, and ‘rum’ means good and bad at the same time, like the word ‘wicked’.

Anyway, since writing it, this song has had many incarnations, including being recorded with Amena from Scanners in 2005. The lyrics change as time goes by to reflect the current Rum Coves frequenting my world.

Today’s recording with Alain Whyte was inspired by a Rum Cove I’ve never actually met, and, well, I hope I never do, especially if he hears this song! It’s hopefully light and witty and not too vicious, but illustrates the point rather well that he’s pissed me off by saying nasty things about my mate, which is something I can never abide. My friends are like family to me, so watch your step if you cross them…

Hear this mermaid’s warning, all ye folks and ghouls with spiteful thoughts and blackened hearts, lest ye slander a friend of mine, I’ll have yer guts for garters, yaaaaarrgh!

June 27th, 2011

It’s 11.11 p.m. and I just got home from Coldwater. The day started at 5 a.m, as I needed to look after the Orchard before chauffering David. So forgive me if I’m brief… but the short version is, today was off the hook! Alain Whyte had his first Coldwater experience, with Kerry Brown and Kevin Dippold, and Lukas Judge looked after everyone too.

Three songs in the bag:

1. The Orchard
2. String Song
3. By The Sea

‘The Orchard’ you know about, but not like this… it’s the BIG version, just a shimmering filigree of acoustic guitar over dreamy electric counter-melodies and chocolate bass, like Buddy Holly hanging with Love & Rockets and Mumford and Sons while picnicking on home-made spotted dick and Bird’s custard in the hanging gardens of Babylon…

‘String Song’, on the other hand, is five and a half minutes of post-punk edginess waiting on a street corner for a wrap of something seedier.

And ‘By The Sea’ you may know, as it’s a cover of the Suede London song of that name, but with a neo-Velvets tinged simplicity, avec beaucoup de strings, d’accord! (Or at least, it will be by the time I’ve finished with it)

À Bientôt

June 17th, 2011

The chicken coop is a favourite place of mine, home to feathered friends of many colours, coo-ers all, and the freedom, smells and silence of the ranch laid all around this pleasant shack. With twilight upon us, the ladies and I embarked on a clandestine adventure this evening.

We are well used to playing music together, me singing and plucking, them cooing and clucking, but tonight, we were joined by Mr. Microphone, smuggled in with a naughty sparkle in the eyes of a certain human female.

June 14th, 2011

1. Wrote and recorded vocals and strings for a new track co-written with Alain Whyte, with a working title ‘Turn.’

It’s got a folky feel, acoustic guitar, hand drums. In Nick Drake territory here, not sure if that should concern my friends and family.

2. Wrote the words for a new track, ‘Something out of Nothing.’ It’s going to be another spoken word one laid over multi-tracked strings, no guitars or keys. Darker than ‘Something Sweet.’

‘Turn’ is so sad, tender and beautiful. It has magic in it. A difficult day in my heart, but creating these new tracks is wonderful medicine. God Bless Music.

June 13th, 2011

Awoke from a dream with a better mix idea for Nearly Yours

. Another gift from the angels!

June 12th, 2011

Have I gone too far this time??! Just recorded a new one, called

Something Sweet

I think it’s funny and fabulous, I do hope everyone else does. It’s slightly shocking on the lyrics front, super-heavy on the strings, spoken word, and maybe a bit Margi Clarke meets Philip Glass or something… and why the hell not?!! Made me blush when I played it to Christa from the Woolly Bandits, but it’s probably the happiest track so far on this record, and Christa totally loved it, so chances are it’ll stay when it comes to selection time purely for the added joy factor, and the super strings.

June 9th, 2011

And so the day came for me to visit Alain Whyte in his hermitage studio retreat, and to hear his vintage Les Paul with Bigsby pick-ups loud and clear through his 1950′s supergained Fender amp, and then to relish the same song but through his high-strung Strat, and then to try it out on his new amazingly resonant acoustic Martin, alongside which I of course bowed on my violin.

We played, we sang, we showed each other new ideas and new songs, and chewed the fat about music and more. A great first play, so glad we’re exploring this material together, and got my fingers crossed a certain choice and succulent scrap comes my way…

June 7th, 2011

And a muse makes an excellent suggestion! Ooo, this is going to be fun, a request!

June 3rd, 2011

These typing fingers are soiled, earth under nails that planted new life at The Orchard today. Safely cocooned, the seedlings are tucked in their beds, fresh tendrils bathed in moonlight, wiggling worms for company below curly roots, spiders spinning, owls overhead.

I sang to them as I always do, the chickens gently cooing as I picked. But this time, there was a fresh sense of company. No longer a simple soliloquy, my apple pips sang to harmonics and undertones, so subtle they were almost silent. But unmistakably, a shadow of a glimmer of the grace of my dear brothers was present in The Orchard today. The song has passed from one to a few, and from there to a mineral existence now dreamed and pinned to a day.

So this evening, please indulge this flowery expression of profound gratitude as we step onward together in this song, these extraordinary brothers and I, ready to grow beauty as only this little band of friends can…

To beauty!

June 2nd, 2011

Via my

Twitter account, I reach out for someone to hand-carry the precious 2″ tape from London to Los Angeles. This is essential not only to prevent it getting lost in the mail, but to avoid proximity to magnets or electric coils, or to airport X-Ray devices or any number of things that can adversely effect ferrous-based tape coatings.

And delight! @xtinewu responds that she’ll be in London for a week and can bring it back to me in LA.

She is due for one lavish lunch…

June 1st, 2011

Liam’s found the tape!

May 18th, 2011

I emailed Liam Watson in London today. We had recorded four songs on 2″ tape in 2004 at his Toe Rag Studios, where The White Stripes recorded Elephant. Because, following one of many encouraging and inspiring conversations about this record with David J, it’s now obvious – these Toe Rag songs are a part of this same body of work.

I’ve been making this album for years, as I stumble through the labyrinth of heartache that is my quest for true love. It’s all there, but it’s all over there… in London, on a 2″ tape that I hope is still in Liam’s basement, but quite frankly, could be in a dumpster by now, or who knows where!

These songs recorded with Steven Severin on bass, the guy from Siouxsie and the Banshees, and with Amina Bates on guitar from Scanners, and Nick Yeatman who is Ed Harcourt‘s drummer, keeping it pure and driving the songs gently forward.

There are four:

1. June Baby
2. The Highest Mountain
3. Special Things
4. Rum CoveMay 17th, 2011

Strings Day. I arrive at Coldwater with sheet music that I’ve prepared this past few weeks, and with my family. Violin, viola, cello and, for today, the little musical saw.

I’ve decided to drop Soliloquy for now. It’s a strong song, but isn’t working for me as a part of this album at the moment. Actually, it was originally intended as a duet (despite the title), and may be resurrected as such at a future date. But for now, the three songs to hand are:

1. What Should I Say?
2. Nearly Yours
3. The Right Guy

We’ve multi-tracked four-part strings on all three songs, all on one day, which I guess is super fast work. I felt extremely focused and unemotional about today’s work. I guess all of the emotional content was embedded in the charts that I’d written this past few weeks, and the parts the angels had sent in the dream last night… so today was light and expedient. Job done!

Here’s the musical saw being tracked on Nearly Yours

.

May 16th, 2011

Ready for tomorrow’s session, I’d gone to bed with all my charts neatly piled ready for the morning. Instruments in cases, all prepared and in order for the studio.

But sleeping in the night, the angels sent a better version of the string arrangement for ‘The Right Guy’… Clear as crystal, they re-arranged the parts into something far more complex than my waking mind could fathom. I awoke with the parts fresh enough to write down, and this is what will be recorded tomorrow. Blessing to my team!

May 15th, 2011

Showed some songs to Damien Youth, something old, something new:

1. Angel Song
2. The Highest Mountain
3. June Baby

Actually I showed Angel Song to Damien and Sarah Morrison. Still a sketch, currently played on autoharp. Wasn’t sure if it was substantial, as it’s kinda funny and a bit country, so it was fortifying to get both of their thumbs up. Means a lot to me as Damien’s songs are amazing and both of their musical knowledge is encyclopaedic.

Then I got my phone out and played the other two songs to Damien on headphones. He say yes!

Confidence builds. Confidence comes from the inside, but it certainly helps when people you respect say something nice.

April, 2011

Coldwater is home to the Smashing Pumpkins this month, so I gladly work on this record at home, as time allows between live and recorded sessions, primarily with David J, The Woolly Bandits and Ballerina Black.

March 22, 2011

Awoke to clarity at 5.30 a.m. The deluge of last night had cleared to the faintest spitting, the skies washed, the air clear of taint. The mic was still on from last night, warm tubes ready for dawn vocals and fragile picking.

By 6 a.m. I’d recorded ‘The Right Guy’, my tenor voice at its deepest and most intimate, straight from slumber.

This was intended as a private demo to send to Kerry, Kevin and Dave Navarro, but… there’s magic in it. I guess this is the one. I guess I can’t conjure up that level of yearning and actual tears at will, better just go with the home demo.

March 21, 2011

God provided the Great Deluge last night for our audio pleasure! Topanga was rained on Bible-style, which was perfect for developing ‘The Right Guy.’

The rain turned the main street into an actual river, parked cars and mobile cars alike floating down it like paper. Lightning took out a great old oak tree at the bottom of my street, nullifying any last chance of escape from this mountain retreat. Power was out. Phone lines were cut. Cell phone had zero bars. No computer, no light bulbs, no oven.

Oh such joy! Oh the peace!

And so I lit a log fire in the wood-burning stove, set a Dutch oven of organic chicken stew upon its top to slowly bubble, arranged candelabras around for light, and set about finishing the song.

Then I slept, rain pattering on the skylights.

March 17, 2011

First demos of two new songs:

1. The Orchard
2. The Right Guy

Not the easiest day at Coldwater. Still tender after a funeral of a friend, tracking suicide songs. Lord help me, what have I started?!

March 10th, 2011

Back at Coldwater. Another soul arrives to compliment the songs.
David J has come with his fretless bass and his warm heart.

January 7th, 2011

1 girl, 3 songs.

1. What Should I Say?
2. Nearly Yours
3. Soliloquy

All recorded at Kerry Brown’s Coldwater Studio with Kevin Dippold engineering, all recorded as one takes… Just me and my acoustic guitar with a mic and a 2″ tape machine.

Maybe make a 7″ single, ‘WSIS?’ on the A-side and the other two on the B-side. Maybe add another to make an E.P.

Let’s see what happens.

Christmas time, 2010

Kerry’s home, Coldwater Canyon. Cold Waters Run Deep, or something like that.
I play Kerry my songs… he is tangibly moved. We both are actually.

Something has begun.

Thanksgiving time, 2010

Kevin’s home. I show him two songs:

1. Soliloquy
2. The Line