We have finalised the running order for “Tales of Dark and Light” There are lots of considerations for this. An album is like a movie, with a beginning, middle and end. This is a substantial piece of work which was recorded over a year with twelve different musicians. I decided to record the title track last and this opens and closes the album.
This is very different to anything I have done before and there is a big sonic variation throughout. Some tracks have up to eight different instruments and others just have one instrument and vocals. Even though I wrote most of the tracks on the ukulele, the final tracks are certainly not based around the ukulele sound. Special thanks to Agi who has pushed me to develop a lot more vocal expression and precision. Dave Bowie, Adrian Knowles and Fergus Quill all brought some spectacular bass to the tracks. Chris Smith, Alice Higgins, Agi and Paul Conway all supplied keyboards. Laurent Zeller provides violin on most tracks except “With one finger” where Jed Bevington plays. Phil Doleman supplies lap steel and banjo. Rich Ferdinando plays percussion and Jon Burr brings some terrific harmonica dynamics to “Grey Skies” and “He’d shooting blanks”
This is a collaborative album and even though I wrote all the material and lyrics, the final result would not be the same without everyone involved.
This is one of the joys of being in a band as opposed to playing solo and/or with loops. With a band, you get a unique dynamic interaction between artists that create something quite unique. I’m proud of the final result and special thanks to Carl Rosamond for the brilliant production. The official release will be on May 11, 2019, and the 49.49 minutes of material will be released in a number of formats internationally.