I’VE STARTED SO I’LL FINISH

I will remember 18th November 2015 very fondly in years to come. Moorscape™ has evolved as an album over the last year or so, from being a figment of imagination through to a collection of songs and now a concept album about the British moorlands. Part of that evolution has been the agreement of two close friends to help in creating the mood of the album, and yesterday they met together in the same room for the first time in more than 35 years. After a couple of hours of reacquaintance and the occasional, directional jam we set off for The Fuse in Partington to complete a song I had started recording the previous week.

Ali (now officially called ‘The Boss’) got to work straight away on mic’ing up Jad’s tablas while the reacquainting carried on around him and soon Jad was stuck in the corner of the Live Room only to emerge when Ali wanted him to listen to the reasons why he had to do another couple of takes. The inclusion of tablas on this album has possibly been the master stroke I was looking for. Not any tabla sound would do. Although it was many years since I had heard Jad practising (when we were at University together) I knew he would add significant depth to some of my songs – I just didn’t realise how much depth!

Kieran seems to know intuitively what I am trying to create, and added simple bass and guitar that provided a perfect complement to everything we had previously recorded. Then Ali remembered his Ebow and added a few bits of technical magic to create a short, punchy song about how the public no longer have access to some of our most pristine moorland (maybe that’s also a good thing?). So we now have our first unmixed track, and we are pretty pleased with it. It will probably be the most ‘energetic’ track on Moorscape™(but who knows?), and you probably won’t hear it until Spring 2016 – although I am looking at how and where we provide music samples sometime between now and then.

There is no turning back now because the feeling and fun behind yesterday’s session is sure to continue every Wednesday until we have the finished product. So here we all are, having completed this first song, and ready to keep creating and keep smiling after every song until then.

Left to right: John ‘Waldo’ Reed, Kieran Heaney, Hey Gamal (Ali – The Boss), and Jad (Rajendra Jadeja). Why Waldo? Why indeed, but it will be explained one day. We are all Waldeaux really.  Moorscape™ is due to be released in the Spring. Follow us on Twitter @DWaldeaux (no ‘r’) and keep looking in for more stories, images, and eventually songs.