The Journey...
It's been a while coming, but it’s finally here! A new album of original songs!
I’m planning to release it gradually onto digital platforms over the next few months as I make videos for some of the tracks, but if you want to hear the album in its entirety, for now it’s only only available on CD from me in person, or from my online shop for £10 plus postage. If you sign up to my mailing list (right) you can get it for just £6 with the code ‘IMAFAN’.
I started writing some of the songs on this album a while ago, and then 'stuff' happened. Life, various tragedies, other work. In the summer of 2017, I managed to assemble a band of wonderful musicians for a two-day session at Loft Studios in Newcastle, under the watchful ears of Adam Sinclair. Drums (Russ Morgan), bass (Paul Susans), piano (Paul Edis), percussion (Brendan Murphy), guitar (me) and some vocals were recorded 'live' with Paul Edis adding various woodwind and organ, and Joe Haydon swung by to take these great photos.
Over the following months the other singer-songwriters from The Coast Road - Bethany Elen Coyle and Bex Mather - added harmonies, and I added a few overdubs where I thought they'd be useful. Bits of harmonica, the odd harmony...
The ‘live’ room at Loft Studios
It's a suite of songs that I'm hugely proud of and excited about, and I'm indebted to the great musicians who helped realise them. Mostly, these were recorded in one or two 'takes' - Paul Edis and Russ in the 'live' room, Bren and Paul in separate booths, and me in the control room with Adam. A quick play through the form to get the 'feel' of the song, then hit 'record' so what you hear is some great musicians really listening to each other and responding to the song as it emerges.
Adam Sinclair at the Controls…
The Destination…
Adam engineered and produced the whole thing, and it's down to his skill in capturing the sounds of the instruments so beautifully, and nailing great takes, as well as mixing everything, that it sounds the way it does. The mixes have been mastered by the legendary Kevin Metcalfe at SoundMasters - who’s also mastered albums by Roger Waters, Paul McCartney, The Clash, UB40, Queen, Happy Mondays, U2, David Bowie, Orbital, Spiritualized, Pulp and many more - so it sounds great! I hope you enjoy listening to them as much as we enjoyed making them :-)
Track Listing
Breathing
No-one Ever Goes There
Everything Breaks
Goodnight Babies
Only The Moon
Say You Want Me
All Yours
Autumn Coming In
Out of the Darkness
Monuments
To The Sea!