Summer break has now arrived and I'm working on some of my old ukulele tracks that I never finished before, but always meant to. Should be getting my new uke this week so hopefully will start recording an upbeat song a wrote the other day called 'Maybe Not Me', which (in my head) sounds strong enough to be an album/EP opener.
Talking of the album/EP, here's the name I think will be a keeper. Something More Than Strangers - sums up so many relationships you have in life, whether you want them or not. I guess some of the songs I've written more recently are influenced by most of the people I'm used to seeing every day leaving school and moving on to university and such, and I'm not specifically friends with a lot of them but we are something more than strangers, so it seems like a pertinent title. That's not the official artwork or anything, I've just been a bit obsessed with designing basic pop art recently.
P.S. I now have a few demos that I'm not ashamed of, so if you fancy a listen drop me a line at Ab.Brightman@live.co.uk or tweet @AbBrightman.
Sunday 24 June 2012
This isn't music-related, but this week I got elected onto the Liberal Youth International Committee. This rocks. Liberal Youth is the youth and student wing of the Liberal Democrats and the International Committee deals with international issues, international policy and works with young liberals around the world. Term starts on July 1st for a year and I am really looking forward to getting started. Shameless plug but if you're young and in the UK you should think about joining us.
In music news I've come up with the 100th name for my ukulele mixtape/album but this time I think it's a keeper so I'm not going to disclose it just yet. Coming up with a name is like writing lyrics - you want something memorable, unique but not at all pretentious. Recording is not happening as quickly as I had hoped and this is because I had forgotten that I still have to be at school full-time. I don't mind school but it is an energy and time suck. What would I rather be doing; a maths project or writing music? What must I do in order to actually get into a university next year? Maths. Thank God for philosophy. Awesome subject - study it if you get a chance.
Slowly my studio is coming together! My house is really small so I've had to set up in the utility room (and then disassemble the kit and pack away after each session because it gets really warm in there because of large windows and a glass roof and I don't want my electronics getting fried). The acoustics aren't as bad as they look.
It's not ideal but there are many musicians out there who can't afford any gear or even instruments so I'm one of the lucky ones. One of my ambitions after I get everything set up and an EP recorded is to encourage small-time artists in the area who have no access to recording equipment to use mine and let me be their sound engineer (non-profit of course). I don't think it'll work for bands since I have no drum mics and can only record two channels so far, but for a singer-songwriter it'll be perfect. Watch this space and email me (address at the side) if you're interested in knowing more.
Cubase is still not co-operating and tying to read instructions and follow tutorials on my computer is not working for my concentration, so I think I'm gonna have to invest in a little one-on-one tuition in using it. A recording studio near me hat my old percussion teachers runs offers this, so I think I'll look into doing that.
Good news! My exams are done at last! Now it is time to enjoy life again and the opportunities I am lucky enough to have. This means recording can now begin. The post brought me my badass condensing mic and magic box which mics and guitar leads plug into to be recorded and connected to my PC. It also brought me Cubase (recording software); my new nemisis. Cubase has made me and my Dad feel all kinds of crazy frustration as we try to get to grips with it. Hopefully we'll get there eventually!
I've been working on some fresh album art this afternoon to distract myself from the utter crapness of my maths exam this morning (I was bang on the money all through Easter break, thought it was a safe subject so prioritised other revision above it and then realised last night that no, I couldn't remember much. Classic rookie error). Anyway, remember how I said in my first ever post how I thought Lost In Ostinato (hopefully my piano EP) should have peas with faces for album art? Well I actually did it and am quite happy with the result. It's just a draft cover as I'm not quite happy with the peas face and need to sort some other stuff, but should give an idea of where I'm coming from.
I'm finding music rather frustrating at the moment. I'm trying to revise for my A-level exams which I am mid-way through, but it's proving extremely difficult. Aside from concentration and work issues in general, I have this thing where the minute I start to really apply my brain to something dull it immediately comes up with masses of ideas for creative pursuits, and a lot of these are ideas for lyrics and tunes. In essence this is a good thing as it's great to keep having new song ideas to work with, but a real wind-up if I'm trying to revise as it gives me a dilemma - keep working or sacrifice some study to develop the song (because I know that if I don't immediately work out the song on an instrument I will completely forget it).
I've forgotten loads of songs in my time. Some never made it to the piano keys or the guitar strings ad I've got over that. Some will be remembered years later when I stumble across the hastily scribbled lyrics in a lost notebook. But nowadays I'm scared to forget a song because what if that song is The One?
The One is the one song you write which sticks with someone their entire life. No matter how good an artist you are general, that one song will always be above the rest because it just means more. They're songs with potential to affect your life. It's very difficult to explain, but I'm sure most people experience several One songs in their lives. Some of mine are 'Don't Be Angry' by The Organ, 'Civilian' by Wye Oak, and 'Divenire' by Ludovico Einaudi (but only after 4:52). I can't explain what it is about them but I would jump through fire to keep listening to them.
My ultimate aim as a songwriter is to write a song that someone else connects to as much as I connect to those songs. That would be completely musically fulfilling. If I come up with that song whilst I'm working I don't want to throw that opportunity to craft that song away because, you know what, it means more to me than grades ever will. But it is a frustrating choice to have to make every day because it does get to a point where I can't justify leaving work to write music because I will end up entering that exam hall knowing nothing.
I did once read some research which suggested that we think more creatively when we 'distract' the analytical part of our brain with an academic task, so perhaps I am not alone in my experiences!
Rainskill is a word I invented to sum up that moment when you arrive at a building, step inside and a few seconds later it starts to rain. This is skill involving rain, thus rainskill.
It is also a potential title for my ukulele EP. The EP will feature all the songs I've written specifically for the uke (as opposed to the guitar or piano) which at the moment is looking to be around 8 songs. I've decided to separate the ukulele material because it is significantly different in tone to my other work so some people may hate my other stuff but love uke songs or may hate the ukulele (but seriously, why would you?) but really like guitar based ones. I think it works nicely to separate them like this. Plus my uke songs feature less instruments than the other ones so will be easier to record thus being a good way to get used to using recording software.
