Here’s the recording of my online gig for the MS Society.
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Category Archives: Music
Last Sunlight
Podcast Episode 3 – 2 Demo Songs
In Episode 3 of A London Steampunk, I thought it would be fun to share with you some demos of songs I hope to record properly in the next year. I’ve got two for you this week, one called ‘Black water’ and one called ‘Ropes around the sun’.
Diary of a Video – Podcast Episode 1
I decided it would be fun to podcast about the video Joe and I started filming on Wednesday this week:
Joe has written a blog post about the video as well. Click here!
The Miser’s Will – Parts 1, 2 and 3
I’ve been writing a series of steampunky narrative songs, collectively called The Miser’s Will.
Here are demo recordings of the first three (Of an eventual 5 – Nearly finished!). Rough first drafts, just vocal and acoustic guitar.
Lyrics are below.
Once I’ve finished it, I’m thinking I’ll do another online gig to share them live with (A tiny section of) the world.
The Miser’s Will I: The Cartographer’s Tale
And I’ll confess, I didn’t know what I would find
I drew these maps, but I didn’t make the marks that you see
Follow, follow said the letter and so I did
And I’ll confess, I didn’t know what I would find
Drawing maps should lead you so far astray
Hello my love look what I foundHidden in a hole in the ground
I dug these metal claws out of the earth and I don’t know why
I’ll confess, it’s strangest tale I have heard
I recieved this map, with instructions to follow and dig.
Dig dig dig, is what it said and so I did,
And now I’m bound to take what I found to London town
Drawing maps shouldn’t lead me so far astray
Hello my love look what I found Hidden in a hole in the ground
They’re brass and gold and leather too Dead yet somehow feel alive
I dug these metal claws out of the ground and I don’t know why
Are you the one who sent for me?
The will’s executer?
Are you the one who wants these claws,
Are you the man I seek?
Put down the gun, I did as you asked Put down the gun please
Drawing maps shouldn’t lead you so far astray
Goodbye my love, cos what I found
Hidden in a hole in the ground
has cost me everything that I hold dear
Has cost me everything that we shared
Goodbye my love
Where I go now is not shown on any map
I return to you if only I could
If only I knew the way
I dug those metal claws out of the ground and I don’t know why.
The Miser’s Will II: What the Orderly Saw
I pushed the trolley,
that killed me dead
I pushed the trolley
that carried the corpse
That killed me dead
I pushed the trolley
That carried the corpse
the doctor cut the brain out of
That killed me dead
He placed it in a jar with chemicals
Electric pulses racing through the flesh
I pushed the trolley that carried the corpse the doctor cut the brain out of,
I watched the doctor meet the man that killed me dead
I pushed the trolley that carried the corpse the doctor cut the brain out of
I watched the doctor meet the man that shot the doctor through the head then killed me dead
Placed it in a jar with chemicals
Electric pulses racing through the flesh
Grey matter revived beyond its time
He thinks death’s an illness to be treated, the doctor said to me
Well even the dead can be cheated the doctor said to me
He asked for more than they agreed, the doctor’s dead
But the man in black spotted me, and so I fled
I’ve seen you have you seen me, have you come to shut me up?
His booted feet upon the floor, come to shut me up
The smoking gun in his hand come to shut me up
I don’t remember my last, Only what I saw
He placed it in a jar with chemicals
The Miser’s Will III: Watermen’s Square
Stories can change, rumours can spread, facts can grow with the telling
But what we pulled up from the depths of the thames, was as dark and strange as they say.
Ribs made of rust and tendons of steel, mishapen and twisted with age.
The toll of years beneath the waves had all but obscured the human shape
In watermen’s square, we sleep with the lights on
In watermen’s square, we all hide away
Beneath greying skies we smuggled it back, back to the watermen’s square.
Gas lamps alight, we studied and starred, but made head nor tail of our find
Five past midnight, a black form appeared, stood at the gates of the square
He said I believe that what you’ve found doesn’t belong to you, I’ll be taking it now
In watermen’s square, we sleep with the lights on
In watermen’s square, we all hide away
We had told no-one, of the structure we pulled up
We had told no-one, yet the stranger still appeared
He produced papers, but we didn’t read them, we just let him take it.
In watermen’s square, we sleep with the lights on
In watermen’s square, we all hide away
How I wrote Spinning the Compass
Spinning the Compass is the title track from my first solo album. It’s another song that’s been very long in the making – the chorus has been hanging around in my head and on scraps of paper for years. The demo below, recorded for FAWM, was the first time I realised the thing and got some verses together.
The lyrics I won’t explain, except to mention that there is an oblique reference to the end of The Demolished Man by Alfred Bester in the verses. The structure of the song is mildly unusual, having two verse together near the beginning of the song and nowhere else. The basic structure of the song goes something like:
Intro Melody
Verse
Verse
Chorus
Melody (But a longer version)
Guitar Solo
Melody (An even longer version)
Chorus
Outro
Each time that instrumental melody comes back you get to hear some more of it – that was the idea anyway.
Musically, the time signatures are all over the place (well, there are three different ones anyway) and the harmony is mostly centred around the E Lydian scale. The title and one of the counter melodies near the end recall material earlier heard in Bad Dreams. The two songs are related in tone and I think are the centrepieces of the album, although other people have had their own ideas about that.
Here’s the demo:
And here are the lyrics:
Been spinning the compass again
Changing the rules while I was looking away
5 paths in the same dial
Like living in a world of your own
all the time shrinking till all the roads meet
white lines dashing past at speed
And up is left, east is west and no-one cares
Spinning the compass again
16 down isn’t making sense
cross purpose and silent days
Like living in a mind not your own
thinking thoughts you don’t understand
white lights shining in the dark
Do you get the feeling we’re running out time?
Have you heard the rumours of war planes in the skies?
With this spinning the end is surely nigh?
Do you get the feeling we’re running.
White lines dashing at speed the windows
They’ve been spinning this compass again.
How I Wrote ‘Ingenious Devices’
Ingenious Devices was almost entirely improvised. I was coming to the end of Spinning the Compass, and realised the pacing of the album didn’t quite work – I needed another upbeat song near the beginning. So I sat down one day with a guitar and started to improvise:
The improv began as a little vamp on an Aminor chord and the title ‘Ingenious Devices’. As you can hear, it’s very very rough. All I’m doing in the recording is playing around with the chords, trying out A minor, C minor, F major, getting a feel for the mood of the song. I’m also using la and ooh sounds, and nonsense half words to try and find melodic ideas.
This, the end of my little improv jam is a little more refined – I’ve got a verse riff and a descending melody, the F chord, A minor vamp and title have worked themselves into a potential chorus.
This turned itself into the finished verse and chorus. The middle section is actually the verse and chorus from another song I wrote years ago but never used.
Interesting fact – the middle section contains a melody played on a stylophone.
The section before the final chorus has lots of loops, both instrumental and vocal that build on one another. The basic idea here is that the 9 beat bar is broken up in different ways – there are loops based on 3s and 2s cutting across the bar like cogs of different sizes fitting together in interesting ways until it becomes so complex it has to break – which it does by returning to the chorus.
Lyrics:
I’ve seen them, with cracking skin,
Greying hair, yellow teeth
And haunted eyes.
I’ll not be one of them
I’ll fill my lungs with oil and steam
And never die
Ingenious devices
keep me alive in perpetual motion these
Ingenious devices
filled the steam from a thousand pistons
Ingenious Devices Turn
My heart beats by pendulum
I’ve filled grave with cogs and wheels
so there’s no room.
And my lovers have passed me by,
I’ve seen towers pierce the sky
with crystal eyes
Ingenious devices
keep me alive in perpetual motion these
Ingenious devices
filled the steam from a thousand pistons
Ingenious devices turn
My daughters died,
My sons all met their fate
Wouldn’t join me
Couldn’t see till far too late.
The clockwork beating
of my polished heart
Reassures me that I haven’t gone too far
Ingenious devices keep me from the grave
Piston as the master, tendon as the slave
Tick tock tick tick this heart beats
Tick tick tock tock this heart beats
Ingenious devices
keep me alive in perpetual motion these
Ingenious devices
filled the steam from a thousand pistons
A New Song – The Steam Engine Murder and the Trial of Seven Bells John
The Trial of Seven Bells John
1. The Prosecutor:
We’ve heard the accusations,
We’ve heard the counter claims
I say you’re guilty sir,
The evidence is plain
The blood upon your clothing,
The powder in your hair,
The looking glass smashed to shards,
And no-one else was there,
Tell the truth,
Say it plain,
There’s not a jury in the land would clear your name
We’ve heard the accusations,
We’ve heard the counter claims
No matter what you say, your guilt is plain
2. Seven Bells defends himself:
Your honour what you’ve heard here
It makes a saucy tale
The truth is I’m not a saint
My good intentions fail,
On the night in question,
I was on the train it’s true,
But not in the ladies cabin,
Past the hour of two,
Don’t believe the things they say
Don’t believe the deeds attached to my good name
You’re honour what you’ve heard here
A travesty, a joke
I’m honest as a summer day is long.
I’m honest as a summer day is long.
3. The Newspapers
Come read the latest news of the villain Seven Bells,
Murder on the locomotive, a journey straight through hell,
Three shots fired and one shot struck, pistol to the head,
The only alibi that could get him off free from a witness who has fled
A criminal who claims that he has changed the way he lives,
Previous convictions of the kind you don’t forgive
Says he met the lady for an honest tete tete
Left her in her rooms before the hideous event.
Come read the latest tale of a twisted murderer
Innocent girl shot to death just because she turned him down
Pay no mind to his stories or his wicked lies,
The only path to justice is to see that the villain Seven Bells Dies
4. Seven Bells Contemplates his Fate (Instrumental)
5. Summing up
You’ve the sordid details,
You’ve heard the saga through,
The evidence presented
The verdict’s up to you
A woman left for dead
on crowded midnight train
the killer fled into the night
But we all know who’s to blame
So say it right and say it true,
Guilty is the verdict you must choose
We’ve heard the accusations,
We’ve heard the counter claims
Now Seven Bells has got a price to pay.
Seven bells has got a price to pay.
Gilded Age Records
I am now part of Gilded Age Records, a Steampunk music collective.
How I wrote ‘Lines Overheard at a Séance’
Lines Overheard at a Séance began life as an improvisation for last year’s 50/90 songwriting challenge. I turned on the keyboard, sat down and began to play. The only decision I made beforehand was that I was going to start on a slightly unusual chord: D/C#
Before long I had the rising bassline and out of kilter chords. The lyrics came to me at the same time, exactly as you hear them on the recording – in fact I’ve only ever played and sung this song once: everything you hear from vocals to piano to bass is all one take and semi-improvised.
Lyrically its what the title suggests – I’m not too sure any more explanation is needed.
Here’s the original demo:
There’s a red red room that I can remember
With a clawing branch right outside the window
And I’m not breaking down
On a cold cold night I saw something evil
Turned the red red walls a deep shade of grey
And I’m not breaking down
Won’t you tell me where the last one is?
There are ghosts in my dreams,
But I can’t hear them