27th March 2011

This afternoon, I completed two pieces for a compilation album coming about later this year, based on scenes from imaginary films – the album is inspired by Eno’s Music For Films albums. I have decided the two short pieces will be the last Second Thought tracks I create using softsynths or Reason. It’s a nice way to finish off, as I’ve created two lovely tracks. Also, I may use synths if asked to do more soundtrack work in the future, so this leads nicely into that, leaving Second Thought to head back to the sounds and samples world again. Ideally I’d like to create something that straddles the border between experimental sound art and accessible electronic music. I suppose Purlieu comes into play there again. Either way, this is all a long way in the future, as you still have two VST/Reason created albums on their way first.

The reason I’ve decided to make this definitive turning point now is that Lucy and I are moving to a new city and hopefully things will start getting better with my life. That’s as good a time as any to change, especially when the ‘improvising with synths’ direction really does remind me of some darker times in the last twelve months. So, a new start, and a return to Second Thought as it should be. All good!

23rd March 2011

A quick change to update the ‘future of Second Thought’ position, as I feel like clarifying some stuff and getting some info out there! The follow-up to Safernoc situation is a bit confusing, after much assessment and re-arrangement of music. Either way, the album has two follow-ups, sort of. The first is Since Every Hour Is Too Late, the collection of works for strings, piano and synth which follow on from the neo-classical moments on Safernoc. That was due out in August, but will hopefully be out sooner – some time in the summer. The other record expands on the sounds introduced on Send More Bees, Night Train, Savernake, Moss and Aqueduct; the first half is ‘ambient dub’, and the second half focuses on synth work and Berlin School sequences. That will be out before the end of the year (I’m hoping September/October). They will both be on CDr + download format through Bandcamp.

Why say all this now and why get them out so soon? Some recent listening and experiences have given me chance to assess my music in a more considered way than I have before. In particular, I had the closest, most in depth listen to Lifeforms that I’ve had in years, and was staggered at how well the mixture of samples and synths works on that album. On top of that, there’s this from my friend Themis’s label Triple Bath. The piece comes entirely from guitar. Lastly, some trawling through my old work for various reasons has really shown the difference in my older, sample-based work and the very synthetic textures of Aeolian Landform. Much as I am proud of the album, it feels less personal and individual to me, and I really want to get back to working with audio, taking acoustic sounds, editing, filtering and changing them and making my own music from that. There’s also been a lot of emphasis on composition and performance lately, and I genuinely miss working with loops and samples in the way I used to. So once I start composing again, later in the year, I’ll be doing that again – starting from scratch, with new software to learn and a whole new range of samples to mess around with. In the meantime, I’d like to get these records all packaged up and out of the way, while letting everybody get the chance to hear them. Also, one potential show in July aside, any future live sets will probably be quite different in style to the dancey synth fest of my last couple (and the improv that will be heard some time in the future). I’ve had a lot of fun with synths, dance music and such lately, but I think it’s about time to get back to forging my own sound again.

Music I’m listening to and would recommend you listen to:

Roddy Woomble – The Impossible Song and Other Songs
4m33s – Time
Somnarium – Frost
Wire – Red Barked Trees
The Future Sound of London – Lifeforms

3rd March 2011

I have this unbeatable talent at stressing myself out, and at starting things with no real way of seeing them through. Lemony Nougat became a chore by the third release, I was so happy to see the end of it. I get this desire to work with musicians because I like their music, but end up offering releases out and suggesting a series of split CDr releases and all sorts, but realistically it was a silly idea and I’ve scrapped it. I’m spending too much time at the computer and on the internet at the moment anyway, the last thing I need is more reason to! I’m scaling down Jerky Oats for the foreseeable future – it originally started up as a way for me to release my own stuff on a whim/to keep control of my own releases, and to help friends out with their first release or two. I suggested, for example, that Jack release his album The Moment on the label instead of simply uploading it to last.fm, and then his Archive albums were a way of making his previous ten album back catalogue a little easier to navigate for those who’d discovered him through The Moment. Since then he’s moved on, had a successful release on Bump Foot and is now looking at possible physical distribution for his next album. This is what I wanted Jerky Oats to be – a way to help out some friends so when they start looking for labels and promoters and such they already have some releases behind them. Anyway, since then it’s begun to get bogged down with all sorts of stuff – none of it bad, of course, but just not what I wanted to do with the label. JOAT023 came out recently, and I already have up to JOAT033 lined up for release at some point, not to mention 10 and 18 which are still in the works. The last of those will be out next February! Twelve records is too much to upload/release and promote when I’m trying to get away from the computer and the internet. Stress stress stress. So yes, the five or six CDr splits have gone and releases after JOAT033 will be invite only special occasions! That, and the reworking of a future album last night have sorted things out in my head quite a lot. I really do have the next year sorted in my head and feel enormously happier.

In more pressing matters, the discography section of my site is now split into individual pages and has sound clips for each album. Moreso, Purlieu and Vacuum Road Songs are now available through Bandcamp, meaning your purchase will give you immediate download in the format of your choice, plus a CD in the post – at no increase in price. How’s that for a bargain?! Note: the last two songs on Vacuum Road Songs currently refuse to upload so that’s a pain in the arse.

26th February 2011

Safernoc CDr release is officially ‘available’ – some promo copies, some for friends and some will be available from live shows in the future. With that, the Safernoc era is finally over, and what better way to mark the occasion than by revealing the artwork and tracklist for the next album! This one was half complete at the start of 2010 and has been touched up over time since then.

Since Every Hour Is Too Late

The Day You Left
Birdsongs for Lucy, I: Magpie
Birdsongs for Lucy, II: Goosander
Birdsongs for Lucy, III: Tawny Owl
Burbage Park, for Dad
Peter Pig
Glebe Road, 1998. Rain
Untitled for four pianos
Birdsongs for Lucy, IV: Stonechat
Mip and Bella, for Mum
May

This is a more personal album than before, as is obvious from the song titles alone. The album expands upon the neo-classical piano/string elements of Safernoc, with the album’s overall palette being little more than piano, strings and subdued synths, plus the occasional sample and field recording. The album features more strict compositions and less improvised pieces than any of my previous work too. The mood of the record is one of a hazy, wistful nostalgia; my dad’s photography of places close to my home town adds to this feeling, and many of the titles refer to aspects of my childhood, along with a series of pieces inspired by birds I wrote for my fiancée.

The record should be out in the summer, all being well, but I’ll post more news on that nearer the time. It feels good to be finally moving on to this album! Also, 60° South is finally in the albums section, in ‘fifth album’ position. Although some tweaks were made on Since Every Hour Is Too Late after 60° South’s release, it was conceived and mostly recorded before that album. 60° South actually expands on the synth ideas put forward on Since Every Hour Is Too Late, and is a very suitable bridge between that and what should follow it. But no more on that just yet!

25th February 2011

Finally, the time to take a break from music is here. All releases for the foreseeable future are complete, artwork is done, a release schedule has been planned out and I’m finally happy with things. Expect the Safernoc follow-up (and related EP) in the summer, then something around New Year, and hopefully another live recording in the future. It feels like I’ve finished another chapter in the Second Thought story, one which started with the recording of Treatments in late 2009. Of course, you won’t hear all of this for a while yet, so I won’t do too much of a ‘chapter closing’ rant just yet…

I’ve also been doing a bit of tidying and re-arranging of the discography (again), as some re-evaluations of last year’s work and a realisation that people coming to my music for the first time might be a bit confused have left me updating the ‘experimental series’ a little – that is now for drone, noise and other things which are most definitely unlike my main musical projects. Anybody who discovers me through Oncoming Storm or Thatcher With a Dick or… whatever, will be able to find related works in that section as it is now labelled as such. This leaves Canal Seven rightfully among the normal EPs (given that it contains work from the Twenty-Four and Safernoc sessions, this is only right), and 60 Degrees South will be appearing in the albums again later in the year (this will make sense at the time). It can still be bought direct from AmbientLive anyway. Despite all the annoying moving around, I think this does leave the discography more sensible in the long run.

Immediate future – Songs of the Emptying Race is coming out on Bump Foot on 13th or 20th March (confirmation soon), and the Live From Folkestone EP at the same time on Jerky Oats. Even more excitingly for me, Safernoc discs should be arriving today so the physical version will be around from the 28th. As of Monday, the Safernoc era will finally be over. This means I should be able to confirm stuff for the next album in the next few weeks. 🙂

19th February 2011

So, the remix album is complete, and you can find the full tracklist in the discography section. It’s nice to finally have this finished, some of the remixes date right back to the ‘Vacuum Road Songs remix album’ era circa 2004/2005, and many of them have been sitting around for the best part of a year in these parts. I’m going to send it out to a couple of labels pretty soon so I can get it out there and move on to pastures new. I’ll keep you updated!

15th February 2011

Been putting together the artwork for a physical release of Safernoc. I was originally planning on getting a full CD manufactured but, financially, that’s just a very silly idea at the moment, so instead I’m having some artwork professional printed, and Andy of A Frame Media (and The Glimmer Room) is making the discs. I’m largely doing this so I have a ‘proper’ physical version myself – always important for me – but also it’s something to sell at shows when people are interested in buying ‘on the spot’ (it’ll also give me something more recent than Vacuum Road Songs to sell!). Due to the small numbers being made, I’m not sure if it’ll go on ‘general release’, but it’s the final page of the Safernoc chapter and it’s nearly finished, which is of course very nice to know!

12th February 2011

Thank you to everybody who’s bought Safernoc – or tried to! The FSOLDigital store has thrown up a couple of glitches, but please do use the contact form if you have problems. The reaction to the album reminds me of when I released Purlieu, and it’s great to know that people are interested and willing to fork out a few pounds for the record. A reminder of how decent people are.

Now, I make no apologies for moving on from this record very quickly as I’ve been talking about it for over a year (“Safernoc news very soon” was promised in November 2009!). There are more updates regarding the album coming in the future, but that’s very much additional stuff rather than the album itself and aren’t too important. What’s important to me at the moment is the next album, but I’m not here to talk about that just yet. Before that comes out, I need to clear the vaults of other things that were completed before then – i.e. the remix collection and live EP which have just been added to the discography. The remix collection harks back, originally, to 2004 when I asked people to remix tracks from Vacuum Road Songs for the album’s accompanying remix collection, Songs of the Emptying Race. More recently, I asked artists and friends whose work I enjoy to remix more tracks, and a double disc collection has come together. It’ll just be an mp3 release, but formatted so it fits onto two CDs for anyone who wants to burn the album to disc. The album has retained the title Songs of the Emptying Race. I’m currently finalising the track order and release details, which will be up in the discography soon – in the meantime, a tiny thumbnail of the cover is there. A million points to the person who can say what it is. After the success of my Awakenings performance, I’ve decided I want to release more of my live work, so following on from the Awakenings 2005 mp3 release, a live, in-studio performance from last December will be out on Jerky Oats, with artwork to match that former release. When I was rehearsing for last week’s performance, I initially drew up ideas for a 40 minute synth-based set, which I then scrapped due to finding it less enjoyable to play than the more rythmic set I eventually decided on. I did one final performance of the piece via the internet to a few friends, and that you will find on the EP. It’s mostly synth stuff, largely from 60° South, with a 60° South-esque interpretation of Fences, and a more faithful version of Aqueduct to the one performed at Awakenings. The version of Degrees seemed particularly icy to me and, being so utterly different to the album version, eventually became Part 2 of the Christmas EP.

These are planned for a March release. Then all of that’s behind me and I can steam on with album #4 – I’ll reveal more news about that in a coming entry.

10th February 2011

It is with the greatest pleasure and pride that I find myself happy to announce, finally, the release of my third album, Safernoc, on FSOLDigital, the label run by none other than The Future Sound of London. After letting the cat out of the bag with the Syophonic promotion, I am properly able to talk about it after keeping things secret for the last nigh on twelve months. To say it’s an honour to be released by my all-time favourite band and biggest influence doesn’t come close, so I won’t gush too much, but it really is the highlight of my musical life so far!

The album was composed between February and September 2009 in Leeds and Manchester, at the time when I re-appeared making music after such a long time away, and was influenced by my then rediscovered interest in techno, and several avant-garde and modern classical composers. The album is very loosely ‘set’ in a village, around which are witnessed various myths, legends and stories, all of which go back hundreds if not thousands of years into British folkelore and mythology, again refencing what I was reading at the time of recording. The album moves away from the gritty rhythms and noises of the previous album, Vacuum Road Songs, and back to a more pastoral sound. Techno and breaks feature occasionally, along with a heavier use of synthesisers than the previous two records, and many tracks feature piano and strings (a sound which will be expanded upon in the future).

Anyway, enough prattling on – the 12 track album, complete with digital artwork booklet, can be purchased from FSOLDigital for the incredibly cheap sum of five English pounds by clicking here. Thank you so much to everybody who buys a copy. 🙂

It’s quite a relief to have it released – it’s been sitting around for sixteen months now so it’s good to be able to properly move on to the next album… but that’s a blog for another day.

6th February 2011

So, last night was my second ever gig, and also my second Awakenings performance – some five and a half years after my previous show. I was a little worried as to how well the set would be received, given that, although Jez keeps a broad, varied and interesting selection of performers on the Awakenings line-ups, there are usually a fair few more traditional/retro electronic musicians (and probably fans!) than modern and contemporary sounding artists. Despite all this, I got a lot of very positive responses from the show and I think it went rather well. Most of the set was quite rhythmic – I prefer working with loops and rhythms when doing live performances – and consisted largely of drastically altered versions of album tracks. “Hilariously”, not one note of released music was actually performed, with music from the imminent Safernoc appearing alongside some tracks I’ve worked on since then which will appear, in one form or another, over the next year. I was also lucky enough to play alongside Nick Robinson again, whose guitar loop-based set was possibly even better than last time, and Endgame who improvised an hour of otherworldly experimental sound which words won’t do a good job of describing. The variation and quality on show is a testament to Jez’s organisational skills and the Awakenings series as a whole. My setlist, for those interested:

Send More Bees
Night Train
Constructing Destruction
Enofa
May
Memories of Sharnford and Sapcote
Aqueduct

The whole experience was lovely, and I had a nice time with Jez and Ben in the evening and this morning. Great stuff. Videos to come soon! I’m waiting on confirmation of Safernoc right now so the next few days should see it out – finally!