If I’ve seemed a little quiet of late, it’s because I have been busy writing new music and also working on another video for the Monumental album.
Whilst Monumental continues to find new fans online and through radio play, I am aware that you guys are really familiar with the album and are probably keen to hear something new! So I’m picking-up the pace with my album releases – if The Beatles could do an album a year, so can I!
So what does the new music sound like? Well, there are some songs which carry on the pure-pop sound of Monumental, and of course, there are some tracks which sound different to anything I’ve done before.
For example, one of the stand-out songs is based around a famous piece of classical music, and there’s even a track where I do a rap (more Neil Tennant than Jay-Z, though). Only a couple of people have heard the new demos and they’ve made comparisons to early OMD (circa Organisation), David Bowie, Roxy Music, Air, Nancy Sinatra, Duran Duran and Goldfrapp. So maybe it doesn’t sound too different after all :)
From July I will start showcasing the demos track by track, but to give you a taste – here is one of them now. “You Are Electric” is a surprisingly positive sentiment for the often melancholy Space March sound. It started with a Beatlesque melody I’d written in swing time and a Kraftwerk-like beat I constructed from the blips and beeps of an 80s Speak & Spell toy. The magic happened when I merged the seemingly incongruous pieces of music into one. I then fleshed-out the sound with lots of orchestral instruments – timpani drums, pizzicato cellos and double basses. I’ve even layered some Japanese taiko drums to make the beat really emphatic.
Advisory warning: It’s a very rough mix just to give you an idea of the song – of course, it will sound a lot more polished by the time it’s finished!
Play it loud!!
‘YOU ARE ELECTRIC’ UPDATE: Feb 2013 – replaced demo with album mix