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 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.

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!