The Value of the Car Test

A couple of weeks ago I spent a week writing in the Lake District. The original plan was to perhaps write a couple of new songs and/or to review the work I’d done so far on The Breeding Ground Of Vile for next year. By the time I had got back to Sale, I had written seven new songs to add to the one I wrote the previous week. They are all now a complete blur, but I have the lyrics and records of the tunes so I’m sure if they are meant to be, I will rediscover them somewhere along the line.

Long drives are great for thinking, and also great for listening to music of all kinds. Yesterday I drove back from Salisbury via a few cups of tea and lunch at Gary Brown’s house in Bristol – my good friend and original collaborator of songs that mainly can’t be repeated. I had driven down the day before to do some filming and photography at a carpet factory down there, so had plenty of thinking and listening time.

It was mainly listening. Before I set off on Thursday, I put together a CD combining the Dry The Life EP with the five songs that Duncan has so far recorded with Ali for his forthcoming EP. I wanted to hear what they sounded like (albeit unmixed) in the ergonomically near perfect space of my car. There is listening in a studio, listening on a CD player or computer with or without headphones, and there is listening in the car, and of all things I find listening in the car to be the most useful.

Before I continue with my thoughts about that, I want to give a plug to Duncan’s work because it is truly astonishing. He has a strong voice that has real depth and range, and that enables him to sing mellow and to sing loud, but most of all his song writing is exceptional. Yes I know Dads are always going to carry an element of bias, but I promise you Duncan’s EP is going to be essential listening.

I put his five songs at the start of the CD, which is partly because I’m sick of the sound of my own voice! But I was also excited to hear how Duncan’s songs worked, and they did not disappoint. What pleased me is that when Dry The Life followed his final song, it didn’t sound out of place. Ali’s production skills are exceptional, so the songs flow together well. I was pleased with their general quality and ended up leaving the CD on repeat to wash over me. Matt Steady’s playing on both has also added an extra dimension that we are all very pleased with.

So for five hours en route to Salisbury and six hours returning via Bristol, I played our music. Eleven hours of listening to your own stuff may sound a bit narcisistic, but actually it’s a good way to find those tiny annoyances that you never want to hear on the final mix. It’s a good way to deal with the alarming amount of traffic on our roads without getting stressed or overheated. And it’s a good way to persuade yourself that it might be good enough for others to listen to! Confidence eh?

Dry The Life and Duncan’s as yet untitled EP will be mixed and released very soon – his probably before mine because I have some travelling to do in October and November, but please give both a listen and please let us know what you think!