[Kafla]

https://soundcloud.com/andrewcruse/wherever-you-are-1

So since I’ve started writing again in April I’ve produced about 15 songs...an album and a half...I’m going to keep bashing them out hopefully but you can never be too presumptuous with these matters...

I’m also going to work on an album of simpler arranged songs with predominately acoustic guitar or piano , bass and some stringed instruments...in my own headspace I’m quite excited by it...I don’t know if anyone else will be 🤣

I had the dreaded COVID back in August and my dreams were really weird and vivid...quite hard to explain how different they were...more intense than I can explain...weirdly I still get them every few weeks for 1 or more nights on a trot...and they can be of people / events that I haven’t thought about for a long time...I think the brain has a weirdly organised filing system and experts say you never forget a single thing...it’s just hard to access certain files...anyway I’m rambling 🤩🤪

I really hope people think this is good...but you never know 😛


Wherever you are

Last night I had the strangest thought
I thought about your house and how small it seemed
I rememberd the times I stayed with you when laughter filled the air
My cousins tears; we were only playing
It’s been such a long time since I’ve saw your face and that hurts me bad
I don’t even know what all this this means
I don’t even know what’s going on in my own life

I’m holding on....
I’m holding on to the hope that you’re happy wherever you are

Last night I had those covid dreams
They scare me half to death but you were there
I saw the way you looked at me , protection overload
and I felt so small ; so breakable
It’s been such a long time since I’ve thought of you and that makes me sad
I don’t even know what all this means but I feel so scared


https://soundcloud.com/andrewcruse/wherever-you-are-1

[Beebeesmith]

@kafla
Hi Andy
may I say I really like and look forward to you’re tunes and this one has a lovely intro and the overall production is fantastic so can’t take that away from you. But what immediately struck me  me was the overall similarity in style to Ed Sheerans Castle on the hill.. Sorry,  it registered immediately and couldn’t shake it off. So although it’s a great song and perhaps just me but it gets only 9/10 instead of the normal 10/10,
BB

[The Holographic Rodeo]

Wow - 15 songs in 8 months is good going! Nice sounding track and well-recorded. Really like when the drums and strings come in - was unexpected and added a lot to the mood of the song. Vocal sound is good too. One thing I would say though, I hope you don't mind me suggesting, I wonder if the timing of the backing vocals that come in near the end need to be a tighter together - though that may just be taste thing

[pompeyjazz]

@kafla Andy - Lovely atmospheric opening with the one on one and your fabulous vocals. The drums are very effective when they kick in as is the rest of the instrumental backing track. You've pulled off a great trick here in being able to keep some restraint which adds to the whole feeling of the track. The multi tracked vocal section works very well too. A bit of a classic mate 

[Wicked Deeds]

Ghosts from the past. People we once knew and yet still know. The puzzle of life. Where are we heading? Have I made the right decisions? I didn't mean to hurt you. I'm getting older. I have confidence but not that of a younger man/woman. Choices, outcomes, happiness, sadness and love. Brian Weiss wrote 'Only love matters' I choose to hold on to those words! A juxstaposition of heartbreak and beauty! Quite wonderful.

Paul

[PaulAds]

Top quality writing.

I wasn't sure about the multiple vocals being out of sync toward the end of the song...bit I think it conveys that weird sort of "is this really happening" disturbed dreamy feeling. So I'd keep them if it were my song.

The song has a lovely gentle lilting quality to it carried along by a great sounding acoustic guitar and you fab vocals.

Fascinating lyrics too. Covid sounds like a bad mushroom trip. Not quite the black death, but scary enough for those unfortunate enough to suffer its effects. I had something really strange from October to January last year...a nasty cough, wheezing like an asthmatic pit pony, having funny dreams and feeling really awful...loads of us at the hospital had it.

Pleased you're OK...you'd be a big miss around here if we were deprived of your talents.

[Kafla]

Thank you so much @Beebeesmith @The Holographic Rodeo @pompeyjazz @Wicked Deeds @PaulAds

I can’t even claim that I haven’t heard Castle on the Hill 😂 Hopefully it didn’t ruin your enjoyment too much 😌

Yes the choir! I suppose the solution would be to sing the 16 voices tighter...but that sounds like hard work 😛🤣 I did use melodyne to pull them all into place but I didn’t like the way it sounded so I went naked...

COVID was like another world experience...I knew instantly it was COVID...very eerie experience...many lives many masters still influencing our writing @Wicked Deeds 😍

[moraamarolaloba]

Hola @kafla

'm glad to know that you have overcome the covid even though you still feel things like this ...
It is a song full of varied emotions, yesterday, dreams, games, laughter, and that house so small that with that simple word "small " it describes many things ... and the distance you speak of in terms of the memory of that someone...
I have liked the simplicity of the arrangement, it goes very well with something so personal and transmits nostalgia and pain.

Stay safe

Mora

[montydog]

@kafla
Hi Andy - I'm relieved you have recovered from the Covid and that your glorious voice is unaffected. This is a lovely tune delivered in your usual impeccable style. I think the drums at the end are very effective and for me the out of phase backing is a nice touch - I've never heard that vocal effect before and it's very...err....effective :-)
I can hear what Beebeesmith means about the Ed Sheeran song - it just a slight part of the melody that is similar but I'm not sure I would have noticed it if he hadn't raised it.
Good to hear that you've been so prolific - I look forward to hearing the new songs.
Happy New Year
M

[Viscount Cramer & His Orchestra]

Lovely stuff Andy.
A big whole world of a song that really gets you in one go. Listening to it twice on the trot seemed a bit of an overdose in fact.
Not that it won't bear being played again...just that it filled me up on one listen.
Magical stuff.
Oh...great sound too!

[CaliaMoko]

I really like the way this is put together. I don't have any nits. I love those drums.

[man made material]

Beautiful melancholic song, great vocal, guitar and arrangement, I really like the choir at the end, I don’t mind it being a bit ramshackle, it gives some texture to it... at the same time if you could get hold of a 40 voice Welsh all male choir it would sound epic! I think British Sea Power used it in a couple of their tracks to stunning effect... great song sir!👍

[Jambrains]

Ah, nice guitar, some alternative tuning? Could use a little more "sparkle" though, just a tad dull as-is (but then I don't hear the crickets anymore, so it may just as well be my ears).
Lovely build, love when the drums and strings come in, that snare is a really nice touch.
The choir towards the end is a little too un-tight (is that even a word??) to work 100%, that would be my only nit really.
Top drawer stuff!

[Jamie]

@kafla

Hi Andy, glad you got through the dreaded Covid, so its not a conspiracy by our reptilian overlords then . Loved this, by a margin the best song I've heard from you. The guitar playing made me think of the late great John Martyn, and the vocals of Paul Buchanan (both great Scottish talents like you ). No issues, loved it.


Cheers

Jamie

[adamfarr]

I think this brings a lot of the best threads from your 15 song journey all into one package. Really like the subtle strings, the daring drums and the big campfire choir...

You always tell a good story and there's so much interesting detail here to hang on to. It feels very sincere and believable.

Great song!