We just finished recording the title track for “Tales of Dark and Light” This is different to anything else I have done to date. The main instrument on the track is a shruti box which adds a drone as a constant throughout the track. We then added a 5 part harmony over the drone, 3 parts from myself and two from Agi. Fortunately, Agi is “queen of the harmonies” so this was entirely possible. Otherwise, this could have been a very lengthy process!
I have always love harmonies in songs and am increasingly keen to incorporate them in “The Caravan of Dreams” material. This requires a great deal of precision in singing and I have been investing a lot of time in building these skills. All the Caravan of Dreams material is a lot more ambitious than anything I have done before and we are spending a lot more time on arrangements and production. This is the first time we have essentially written in the studio. This is also the first time I have used the Henriksen Blu amp with extension cab in a recording situation with the Stryman El Capistan. The El Capistan is like an old Echoplex unit and reminds me greatly of the sounds John Martyn used to create. We used two SM57s to mic up the Henriksen speakers and this created a really fascinating wall of sound.
Next week we’ll be mixing and mastering this title track and it is going to be very different. This track will top and tail the album, like the opening and closing chapter to a book. Agi and Carl have been invaluable in making this possible and without them, we would not be able to create these sounds. Tales of Dark and Light will be released in 2019 after some low key gigs to work up the live set.
