Stream the album @ Bandcamp

"A Random Quiet" will release next spring.

In the meantime, you can listen to the whole album right now at Bandcamp and - for a limited time - get a 20% discount when you pre-order the album in download format. (CD coming soon!)

Go here : http://hallofghosts.bandcamp.com/ to hear the album.

These are the formats the album will be released in :

CD (limited edition with colour artwork & booklet)

HD FLAC Download (High resolution 24/96 FLAC - studio quality)

MP3 (320kbps lossy - iTunes compatible)

The Album Is Ready !

"A Random Quiet", the debut album from Hall of Ghosts, is ready to go ! It will be immense.

Acclaimed mastering engineer Bob Katz put the finishing touches to the 8 song album which will be released in Spring 2012.

The track list is :

1 Bye Bye, Big Blue
2 Giant Water
3 We Are Finally Happy For Standing Still
4 Volunteers
5 Tonight, It's Over
6 Hall of Ghosts
7 The Wandering
8 A Random Quiet

Look out for a single coming soon from the album. The entire release will also be streamed in advance on Bandcamp with the chance to pre-order the CD at a discount.

Tour dates for 2012 are now being worked on.

Analog Love

One of the master tapes for the album. Bob Katz is doing the mastering out in Florida.

Album & Tour Update

I'm getting near the finishing post for the album "A Random Quiet".

I'm still working on the last track. It's called "The Wandering" and it starts off with an electric piano, some picked acoustic guitar and tom-toms. Electric guitars and straight-ahead drums hit in the chorus.

I hope to finish recording and mixing in the next week, before finalising the running order and sending off the tapes for mastering.

You may have already listened to or downloaded some of the tracks on this website. Those early mixes will soon be taken down, to replaced with the finished, mastered versions.

The album will be preceded by a download single, available through Bandcamp. You'll be able to get it in FLAC, Apple Lossless and mp3. The single should be out before Christmas, with the album released in the New Year. "A Random Quiet" will also be made available on CD through Bandcamp and CDBaby, as well as selected record stores and at gigs.

Tour dates are currently being finalised for March & April 2012. I'll be going out solo and performing acoustic guitar renditions of the songs from the album, along with the odd Additional Moog tune. Gigs are being arranged for Germany, Switzerland, UK, Northern Ireland & Ireland.

My EP Only Future

As much as I enjoy putting an album together over time, trying to craft it so it flows like an album should, I realise how long the process can take.

"A Random Quiet" is by far the best thing I've ever recorded and I look forward to finally getting it out there. At the moment I'm recording one last song for the album, called "The Wandering".

Once the album's out I think I'm going to start releasing EPs only. I always used to like buying 12" or 7" EPs when I was growing up. As a musician, EPs are great for capturing the moment. You put out 3-5 songs that you're working on at that moment in time, without them conforming to the idea of an album. Then you move on. I like that process.

What format those EPs take - I'm not sure. They'll come out digitally of course (in FLAC). As for CDs/vinyl etc, one possible idea is to collect 3 or 4 EPs together and release those together on one physical album. I also like 3" CDs - you don't see them often but they look neat.

My first EP for 2012 will probably be "I Remember Old Computer" - 4 songs with an 8 bit/retro gaming theme, complete with prerequisite Sega/Nintendo noises.

The second one will be a really stripped down acoustic guitar/mini drum kit EP - recorded in a church on a hill in winter.

Album artwork

Here's a preview of the album cover :

I'm currently mixing the opening track "Bye Bye, Big Blue" which is my favourite of the songs at the moment. Coming soon - a video previewing the songs as they were recorded & mixed.

Album and Tour Info

"Hall of Ghosts" is the latest track to be mixed for the album - it was also mixed and edited on analogue tape. An mp3 version is coming soon. Two other songs are left to be mixed "Bye Bye Big Blue" and "Tonight, It's Over" along with a new song that is yet to be recorded called "The Wandering".

Meanwhile, tour dates are starting to be organised for next year with the aim of doing some UK and Europe dates from March through May. These are either going to be solo sets (vocal & acoustic guitar) or as a duo (acoustic guitar and drums).

The artwork is also being worked on for the album cover after a photo shoot in rural North Shropshire.

Album Update

Looks like a rethink is on the cards. I already mixed a track called "Old Computer Instrumental" for the album but its sibling "I Remember Old Computer" (no musical relation) will just not hang together right and one song won't work without the other on the album.

I think I'm going to save that pairing for a future single or EP and write and record a new song specifically for the album. Sonically, it might work better as the Computer songs have that great 8 bit synth sound on them but they might no sit well next to the guitar-based songs.

That means the album will most likely be 8 songs which is great because a) I can think of plenty of classic albums I enjoy that have only 8 songs and b) some of the songs are longer than the usual 3-4 minutes so the running time will still clock in at about 35-40 mins which is good for the old attention span.

The artwork for the album has been photographed too (Sample coming soon) and now I'm deciding on what to call this recording.

Hall Of Ghosts in top 10 Overplay chart

The track Giant Water is currently at #10 on Overplay's indie download chart.

http://overplay.com/Chart.aspx

Halfway To Here

That's 5/9 in the bag. "A Random Quiet" is the latest track to be mixed. I'm not going to post it anywhere. It's a haunting song arranged for just voice and piano and will probably be the last song on the album.

Still to mix :

"Hall of Ghosts" : cool acoustic riff and percussion. One of the most interesting on the album.
"Tonight, It's Over" : alt country with pedal steel. Nice, laid back tune.
"Bye Bye, Big Blue" : my favourite of the new songs. Will open the album

plus :

"I Remember Old Computer" : likely be last to be mixed as the arrangement needs changing. It's the drums holding it back. Gives me a chance to now get closer to the sound I have in my head.

Cabin Fever!

Essential for album mixing : Belgian beers!!

Giant Water

Another new song today. Giant Water was one of the first new songs written for this LP.

Giant Water (mp3) by hallofghosts

Giant Water


Step into the giant water
I'm listening
Though I am shouting at the top of my lungs
Let the water surround you
Time is forgotten
I'm holding your hand
Forever
The tide won't take us down
Though I'm fearful
Of the hated clouds coming round
Nothing will break us again
I swim slow-motion
No ending
The years we knew like ripples
They fall through your hands
Come with me
No rescue
A lifetime treading water
It comes speeding past
Forever
The tide won't take us down
Though I'm fearful
Of the hated clouds coming round
Nothing will break us again
This isn't happening
I won't believe in it this day
Shivers shaded me from hue
Red to blue
The days grow shorter
In the giant water
Step into the giant water
I'm listening

Old Computer Instrumental

Old Computer Instrumental (mp3) by hallofghosts

Mix Update

One more song done and dusted : Old Computer Instrumental which will be winging its way to this website very soon. Just got to decide whether I like it's laid back, spacey feel or whether to varispeed it up a bit. It's actually an old Additional Moog demo - more about that next time. Anyways, if you recall Nintendo SNES and Sega Master system circa 89-91 then this one's for you.

The song I'm in the middle of mixing right now is a new one called Giant Water. This has maybe got an ELO/Jeff Lynne meets Gram Parsons thing going in. It's taking some mixing because there are several layers of guitars that need to be interwoven correctly. I likes it.

You'll notice I don't really do Twitter as yet and I'm highly unlikely to join Facebook. However, feel free to share links and mp3's yo'selves, at least until the CD/24 bit download of the album is ready!

Volunteers

Volunteers by hallofghosts

"Volunteers" is the second track to be mixed from the upcoming LP. It's a fairly uptempo rock tune with a bit of a soul feel to it.

I am a volunteer in this life 
giving myself without return
there's nothing answered in me

I am a translator of your heart
open sky and empty road
this is what we planted

I'll not come up for air
a grey-blue abyss
like an empty kiss

We are all just volunteers
fighting a lost cause
as a lifetime rolls out to the past
I know this will last
I know we will last

I am a visitor to your dreams
even though we'll never meet
you'll feel me living on through you

I am an evergreen on this hill
weather was never my enemy
not when I had you near to me

I'll not come up for air
a grey-blue abyss
like an empty kiss

We are all just volunteers
fighting a lost cause
as a lifetime rolls out to the past
I know this will last
I know we will last

I'll hear you singing
in an unlocked room
your smile is with me always
i'll hold on tight so you won't let go
don't leave me on my own
don't leave me on my own

We are all just volunteers
Here we are




If you like : Neil Young, the Band, Wilco, REM

ProTools Interruptus

Well, at least I managed to get one new track out before my ProTools rig bit the dust!

Currently waiting on a new PC before recommencing mixing. My poor Dell was suffering from some Thermal Meltdown issues or some such.

Meantime, at least it's sunny - I can go cycling.

Kenny Cole

I wanted to introduce the work of artist Kenny Cole. Kenny is a talented, prolific artist based in Maine, US. One of his pieces, painted on a piece of scrap wood, is used as the basis for the Hall Of Ghosts logo - shown at the top of this website.

His thought provoking work can be seen (and purchased) at http://www.kennycole.com/

Hall of Ghosts - We Are Finally Happy For Standing Still

Hall of Ghosts - We Are Finally Happy For Standing Still by hallofghosts

We Are Finally Happy For Standing Still

Hall of Ghosts - We Are Finally Happy For Standing Still by hallofghosts


Mixing has begun. The first track I'm working on is a rocky pop song, "We Are Finally Happy For Standing Still". This was one of the first new songs written for Hall Of Ghosts. I'll post the track up here soon :

In a glass house
there is room to run out
there is space to believe

Early morning dust
to the daylight thrust
this is something I need

And now I'm ready
I think I'm ready

Sing out loud
it's getting simpler now
I disappear in a horseless town

How old are we?
inside a photograph
we live again where the pages part

And now I'm ready
I think I'm ready

We are finally happy for standing still
I can feel myself loving you
we are finally living 
for going nowhere
and this is us I'm talking about

On the far frontier
where the message is clear
we'll hibernate 'til the summer breaks

Give me endless air
hold me into the chair
I'm given all unto gravity

And now I'm ready
I think I'm ready

We are finally happy for standing still
I can feel myself loving you
we are finally living
for going nowhere
and this is us I'm talking about

I was lonely out on the rail
slowly coming undone
but you helped me change
yeah, you changed me

Getting Ready To Mix

So, I'm working in Europe at the moment and listening to some unmixed versions of songs for the album. I'm looking forward to doing the mix when I get back to the UK in April. I'll be putting some of the tracks up on Soundcloud.

Welcome to Hall Of Ghosts

I've nearly finished recording the first Hall Of Ghosts album so it's time to go public.

Demos for my new "solo band" began in 2010 when I decided to return to a one man recording project, after several years of gigging and recording in the alt.country/indie band Additional Moog. The music for Hall Of Ghosts is a natural extension/progression of the material written for Admoog.

Nine songs will make up the new, as yet untitled, album. They are "The Volunteers" / "Hall Of Ghosts" / "We Are Finally Happy For Standing Still" / "Old Computer Instrumental" / "I Remember Old Computer" / "Tonight, It's Over" / "Bye Bye, Big Blue" / "A Random Quiet" / "Giant Water".

I'll start mixing the album this April and hope to get it out for the summer. There'll be a CD along with mp3 and 24 bit FLAC versions. In the meantime, mixes and work in progress will be posted on this site via Soundcloud.

Get in touch at : hallofghosts<at>gmail<dot>com