Alec's Orchard

Something I jotted down whilst thinking about the imminent arrival of summer. The location and some of the ideas are roughly based on an idealist version of my next door neighbour Alec's garden in Cambridge. A potential song?

Seen picking apples of the eye
Naked dancing in the sunshine
Paradise holds onto my arm tight
Taste honeysuckle with a twist of wine

Found wired to a trellis of black
Flamenco it raves with light beams
Tortures my senses and better judgement
Undone by liquor sewn up at the seams

Lost inside this Moorish mystique
Cyclic motion swirling golden gods
Lay down their fingers from the clouds
Condemned by this potion solemnly nods

Les Feus Rouges @ Montague Road

Okay so this was a gig less ordinary; yes I was involved in playing in it; no it wasn't very formal; yes it was for a private party.

This little gig for around 40 people was very intimate but hey it was my first open air performance. So with Mrs Jones' decking in the back garden with a gazebo over it as our stage, and a full-blown PA system set up with iTunes on standby to fill in during intervals, we were ready. Now, Les Feus Rouge, the official backing band for my solo stuff, which I am also a part of would usually consist of TSÓC (vocals and guitar), Van Dyke Jones (drums) and Heaton Crook (bass), but with Heaton unavailable a substitute was sought, step forward Hannah.

Hannah who plays and teaches guitar could, we found, also sing! Hurrah! So it was that with TSÓC and Hannah swapping between guitar/lead vocals and bass/backing vocals and Van Dyke keeping the beat the line-up was set - and it worked despite there being no rehearsals!

Les Feus Rouges played a mixture of covers, extended covers with much jamming and then just out-and-out jams. The usual favourites came out, Wonderwall, Rain, with some 'fashionable' Johnny Cash numbers. In addition to this courtesy of Hannah, some Tracy Chapman and Eurythmics appeared. A personal highlight was the 10-minute long rendition of The Beatles' Come Together with a major funky jam outro.

So with the crowd-pleased and us three musicians pleasantly pissed one could say it was a success. Les Feus Rouges, drinking all the beer, wine and vodka at a party near you soon - but not before some serious music has been recorded!!

Is this the most beautiful song ever?

Hoppí­polla
by Sigur Rós

When I first heard this song on the advert for BBC's Planet Earth series I thought it was taken from a song by Athlete or someone of that kind. Little did I know that it was actually by an artists that I thought was a hip-hop artist - no nothing of Sigur Rós!

Anyway I just had to download the song to see if it sustained its majesty throughout. The answer is simple - yes it does. I think that judging by the understated melody and the power of the instrumentation this may possibly be the most beautiful song ever written. With the song being sung in (presumably) Icelandic I haven't a clue what the song is about, but perhaps this innocence of the ear contributes to its beauty.

If you haven't experienced Hoppí­polla yet, get yourself to iTunes!

California Crossing and The Beach

Well after getting the Windmill on the Hill recorded to an okay standard - albeit with the necessity of a bit of fiddling to be done still - thoughts have moved on to what can be done next. The answer is California Crossing and new recording of an older song called The Beach.

California Crossing is about taking a surreal journey along a dry and dusty road in the USA. It is meant to follow a slightly dream-like state of mind, or perhaps just residual drunkeness, traced from dawn to midday. The song is very calm vocally whilst having a reletively fast-paced picked guitar undertone.

The Beach tells the story of a holiday taken, along with many others from Aylesford Sixth Form, to Newquay in 2002. The song, written in part on Fistral Beach, speaks of two beaches, the real beach and the artificial beach (in the case of Newquay a club). It is a story of the sea, the town, the foam-party in the club and people selling drugs. This song most likely won't make it onto The Beechwood Sessions - but may do if the recording is good enough and well-received.

Finally in the last blog post I said that along with Windmill on the Hill there would be a song called Into the Haze of the West recorded soon. This has been delayed due to being unable to find a suitable 'drone' sound to go in the background - currently attempted have been an organ and a computerised piano. The search continues.