Just put an EP out, it's been a bit of a journey.

Cirrus · December 2018

So, I’ve released an EP. It’s the culmination of a looooooong project. I started writing the songs in the summer of 2015 when the Refugee Crisis hit the headlines in the UK - hundreds of thousands of people fleeing Syria, Iraq, Afghanistan and Sub-Saharan Africa. I was struck by the contrast between the sheer strength of character and almost nobility of leaving your whole life behind to try to find a better place, and the squalid nature of the UK’s press, politicians, and social media discussions about migrants & refugees.

It’s been a labour of love. I did about 15 demos over that summer, and started recording the drums properly for the songs late that year. Guitar and vocal recordings went on until April 2016, then I started producing an album for an Italian mate and between that and my band gigging etc, this project was kind of put on the back burner and I didn’t finish mixing it until Jan 2017. Incidentally, I had a thread going here for this part of it all

Then it kind of fell by the wayside because my band was having problems, and I was really trying to hold that together while also getting a little group together so I could play these solo songs live. And by mid-2017 I realised I wasn’t happy with the production of the album. So me and the drummer in my band booked a weekend in a recording studio and re-did the drums to 6 of the tracks.

My band continued to struggle on, so again I put this on the back burner, just recording & mixing it as and when I found time. And eventually in June this year, my band split up.

And at that point, I realised I had pretty much an album that divided neatly into two halves.

The first 6 tracks, taken from the songs I finished early 2017, were about the journey of a migrant across the people trafficking routes from sub-Saharan Africa, across the desert and then the Mediterranean into Europe. Despite the way I thought I could play, record, produce, sing and mix it better if I did it again, I also felt that it was the best I could do at the time and I should respect that. So I put it out early August this year;

Desert Waves on Endless Shores Pt.1

The second 6 tracks, were ones I’d re-done starting with proper studio drum recordings last summer, and recording guitars, vocals and mixing through this year. Those 6 tracks were about how we saw Refugees in the UK. And I’ve put that EP out today;

Desert Waves on Endless Shores Pt.2

So, there’s 3 years of my life in this. I think for the next one, I’m going to try to work a bit more quickly.