This is the second post about this album. Find out how things started in this post here.

I’ve got to an interesting point in the composition of my second Ashfeathers album. I think I’ve got a first draft track list.

9 or 10 songs (some of them still with working titles) that I think will make it onto the album. Probably. Possibly!

Are they all finished? Most are but not all. There’s a verse here or there that needs ironing out, at least one of them is more the concept of a song than an actual finished piece. Nevertheless, I can feel what this album is.

Does that mean the job is nearly done? No, not even slightly. Writing the songs is just the first step of the process. There’s still arranging and recording, mixing and mastering.

My next step is to get a first draft of guitar and vocal parts recorded along to a click track. That will give me a basis over which to try out different arrangements and parts.

My intention is to keep things pretty minimal and a little more organic sounding than the first album, but given that I really like the sound of acoustic guitar and synth, I can’t guarantee that combination of timbres won’t turn up again.

A sincere, hopeful song

One of the pictures shared in my call out for song inspiration was this pic by Richard Darby, a picture of two chess pieces, a white queen standing victorious and a black king lying on its side. That made me think of the idea of getting knocked down but always getting up again, so I started writing on that theme.

And you know what I’ve ended up with? I’ve ended up with a song that is unironically and sincerely trying to sound hopeful.

That doesn’t mean it isn’t also kinds weird. Another of the inspirations was a myth in this book about falcons, which tells the tale of a women who is in love with a man transformed into a falcon (or possibly a falcon who can transform into a man. A werefalcon) and her jealous sisters who try and trap him.

So the verses are about star-crossed lovers in myth and the chorus is about the idea of hope, of light in the darkness. At the moment I’m pretty sure it’s going to be the title track of the album, but we’ll see.

When do you get to hear this album?
Do I have a timescale on when I’ll have a finished album to share with you? No, I don’t think so. Next steps, arranging all the songs, maybe a first finished song in January. That’s not a promise though, you can’t rush art!