Want to record an album? Want to read a long post about recording one by someone who really does?...

---

So I’ve got a bunch of songs that I’ve been sitting on for the last few years that I need to make into an album.
I have the sound, the sequencing and the vision but I need the people.

I’m traditional in how I think albums should be – a side A and B, some proper flow and movement, a general cohesive sound and themes but songs that don’t all sound the same, the classic sort of 40 minute mark, and a belief that what you’re creating is for the wider world of music – not the Scottish scene, not the (non existent) Edinburgh Scene..but something ambitious. I know what I like and what’s perceived to be a ‘good’ album so I figure I should try and throw my own hat into the ring.

The music I write is acoustic guitar based but I don’t classify myself as a singer-song writer or a folk musician. You know the difference between Angel Olsen or Benjamin Clemantine and some generic singer like (shudder) Hozier? You know the difference in sound, personality, seriousness and depth between the two? You know the lineage that someone like Olsen or Clemantine are trying to fit into? You know the vision that goes with trying to set your music into that History?...Then you know what I’m talking about.

With that said, I’m a 33 year old guy and my chief influence is Cohen. I know I’m not the first person to say that but it’s not necessarily his ‘deal’ that I’m using as a reference point – it’s his individuality in tone and scope. It’s the idea that he was labeled as a doom-monger…but he kept at it. I don’t really think there’s many musicians around who have that anymore…at least no one who won’t sell it out at the first flash of a note.
That’s not what I’m about. I think that gap could be filled. Let’s make some proper Art.

I don’t have anything of a high enough recording quality to share with you mainly because – and this is a bit of an issue – I don’t really rate my voice or playing very strongly. What I’m trying to do is get you and/or people like you interested in what I’m saying, maybe with a view to meeting up to see if we’re on the same page then showing you the songs and seeing if we can organically develop them, me and us, and if we’re happy enough with any possible developments to push on.

This may be a long post but you’ll get the impression that I have a lot to say about it and I’m pretty serious about giving it a shot. I suppose it’s a kind of a ‘let’s form a band’ ad…but it’s not really. I just that I need to meet like minded people who can get this thing going and I can’t see them in the bars of the Edinburgh scene because, as I said, whatever of that scene there is it’s not for me.

If you think you are, though, get back to me.

M

PS The image is Julie Byrne.