GIGS

Since the last blog I was back at the Chemic in Leeds last Thursday.  With Christmas approaching I'm going to be doing a few gigs with the Atlanta Soul band so it may well be that my 'solo career' is put on hold for a few weeks...although it will give me a little breathing space to learn some new songs which is always good. 

STUDIO

I've managed to get cracking on with my solo 'acoustic' recordings.  There's a little bit of mixing to do and hopefully the music will all be done shortly.  It's been very interesting and surprisingly challenging to record something 'intimate' and stripped back.  As I mentioned before, I'm doing the vocals in as few takes as possible without resorting to any editing.  This sounds simpler and quicker but the tricky part is getting the live feel of the takes across and sometimes that's hard to combine with getting them accurate.  Although to make them truly authentic like my gigs they don't necessarily need to be so accurate!

MUSIC

Last blog I gave my 2 word review of Ellie Goulding's new album.  After hearing the full thing I'm afraid it's not changed.  I must be missing something on that one.  Pink's new one is a totally different experience where each track is compelling and in some way exciting.  I know it's always classed as 'edgy' but to me it's just a case of whether a song grabs your attention or not.  For me she does and I like the mixture of sweary songs and sensitive songs which at least caters for good moods and bad moods.  I've also listened to some electronic Argentine Tango in Gotan, which I've always loved although I still think the first half dozen songs I heard are their best, which is now some 9 years ago.

Hope everyone's reasonably happy and not flooded out, see you later x