Congratulations Jack. I'm loving what I've heard so far. Be great for those of us that have followed you for a while to give us a bit of insight into how the album came into being. How you selected the songs, the order etc. When the tracks were recorded. Helps contextualise what we are listening to. Cheers Micky
Thanks Micky! Sure I'll give a little bit of background.
I have always wanted to write/record something quite synthy and 80s but didn't feel I really had the necessary production skills. I got some new plugins and have learnt a lot since joining this forum, so that's really what gave me the confidence to start thinking about putting an album together. I have LOADS of songs written already, in various forms of completion, but I decided for Secret Mover I would start from scratch and write every song as I went. I also decided for the first time ever to start with the title first, which was an interesting tactic as it often informed the story and style of the songs before I started writing.
Secret Mover was written and almost entirely recorded in an afternoon, and after that the songs came bit by bit. I hadn't really decided on any over arching themes but I guess LGBT issues are prevalent. My brief travels in Europe inspired a lot of the lyrics too (Amsterdam, Secret Mover). And then obviously there are deeply personal songs like Billy (which is 80% biographical) and I'm Over It, Continent of You, We'll Look Back On These Days & Laugh and Passengers to Love, which are all inspired by my friends or my relationship in some way.
Time to Face the Crowd is an interesting one. I used some old poetry for the lyrics and wanted something really ominous. I guess you could say it's a love song of sorts, but maybe it's a song about being cheated on, too. Then there's story songs, which I can't help but write: Kombat Truck is about a doomed relationship between two soldiers in an apocalyptic future, and She's In Deep is about a girl who is convinced she is being followed by the KGB or other G-Men...and perhaps she's right?
This is the first time I have been really careful to make a collection of songs feel fluid. Anything that didn't fit the synth-y 80s remit was eventually discarded. I did however like the piano ballad enough to leave it on. The last song, We'll Look Back On These Days & Laugh, is edging towards a more natural, full-band sound, which should give segue nicely in to what I am working on right now for the follow up.
Everything was recorded in my tiny bedroom at my Mum and Dad's house, apart from Passengers to Love. It's a special collection to me in that sense as these are the last songs I wrote and recorded there before flying the nest.
Thank you for your interest! I hope that is in some way interesting haha
