13 posts tagged “burnsong”
Andi and I started working together during the Burnsong project in November 2007 (see previous posts on the Vox blog) and decided to write and produce the album together a few weeks later. The demo process was as follows;
- Initial MP3 vocal/guitar idea or lyric fragment emailed
- MP3s backwards and forwards for a few iterations
- Lyric sheet developed as a Google doc and edited throughout
- I make a backing track and email MP3 to Andi
- Andi sings a vocal straight to MP3 recorder, with the backing track in her headphones
- Andi emails me this dry vocal MP3
- I sync it up with the original backing track and create a demo, adding my own BVs and other instruments (and never pitch correcting - Andi is a fine singer and always does another take rather than let me ‘go digital’ on the vocal!)
- We repeat this process a few times until we’re both happy with the demo, then we agree via email that the song is complete, and move on to the next one.
Sometimes we had three or four songs on the go simultaneously, which made things easier if a song wasn’t working, or we wanted to put one on the back burner for a while.
Here’s a video we shot during (a break in) the Bath studios sessions – an acoustic version of our song ‘Come Back Home’.
Back in November last year I worked with the lovely Chris Blanden on the Burnsong Project (see the original blog entry from last November, then follow all the entries afterwards to get the full story).
It was a great week, with some wonderful songs from the 12 participants; my only regret was that we didn't get any pics from the show we played at BBC TV Centre in Glasgow. Jenny from Burnsong has unearthed some, so here's a gallery.
Very green, Scotland...
On Friday night, some of the songwriters were interviewed on the Ian Anderson show, presented on this occasion by Ricky Ross.
Here as audio files are the relevant excerpts from the show, including interviews with four of the Gathering 2007 winners Mary Barclay, David Ferrard, Andi Neate and Lisa Paton, and a brief interview with me discussing the writing processes during the week.
I included the audio for this song in a previous blog, but since the gig quite a few people have remarked on it, so here it is in full, including lyrics. Stevie's original draft of the lyric had the character in his homeland, which had become a war-torn landscape. My only suggestion during the workshops was to bring in the idea of the character being far from home - i.e. to make him a soldier fighting overseas. I think you'll agree that Stevie has used some remarkable imagery to illustrate the song's universal anti-war sentiment. It's also an effective melody that really carries the character's anguish and torment. We added a bagpipe-style open 5th drone using voices from other members of the group, and the final recording was produced and mixed by Chris Blanden. Personally I find the song astonishingly affecting, even after repeated listenings. It's one of those examples of performance, lyric, arrangement and melody lining up prosodically - all the musical elements pushing in the same direction.
Stevie Palmer 2007
Wind won't you carry me
Set my blind spirit free
For I have lost the will to breathe
As comrades fall like dying leaves
Black is the sun
Black is the sun
Rain won't you wash me clean
Such poison I have seen
Visions that will not be gone
For all my life, however long
And in this trench there is a picture
My sweet children smile at me
And in my heart an endless longing
Wherefore art the smiles I see?
Black is the sun
Black is the sun
Snow won't you chill my wounds
Spring she has come too soon
Fires scorch as we retreat
Flesh decays around my feet
Lord won't you bring me home
No strength have I to roam
A thousand miles beneath these boots
More death with every round I shoot
And on this gun there is a number
Tell me what this number means
Is it for the lives I've ended
Or is it for the tears I've screamed?
Black is the sun
Black is the sun
Wind won't you carry me
Set my blind spirit free
For I am broke beyond repair
So to my kin please blow me there
Possibly the most interesting task of the week, in terms of the songs that came out of it, was the exercise where everyone had to write a song with a tempo faster than 120 beats per minute (2 beats per second). This led a lot of singer-songwriters into new territory. The following song by Lisa Paton is based on the story of Colin and Ann Gordon and Stanley Lawson aka 'Alamo Stan', whose homes were among 300 houses to be bulldozed in Pennywell, Edinburgh earlier this year. Stanley daubed the phrase 'The Citizens' Republic of Pennywell' on his walls shortly before he was evicted, and Lisa was inspired to write this universal tale of home, family and community.
The audio is a live recording, performed by Lisa and Stevie Palmer, of the song's first performance on the day it was completed.
Every day the songwriters played back new material to the group for discussion, and whenever time allowed we developed these basic first performances by getting our in-house producer Chris to work with the artist on some arrangements. So we thought it would be interesting to blog a 'before and after' from the Gathering week. Here's Amy Duncan's original performance and studio recording of Rodger Lyall's lyric, which tells the story of the fishermen of Inverbervie and their struggle to protect the ancient salmon fishing rights granted to them by King David II. This was the first day's task - to write lyrics separately and hand them to another Burnsong writer to add the music. It's not the most common form of collaboration, but an interesting exercise for songwriters; lyric-setting in this way is the preferred method of Elton John & Bernie Taupin and Chris Difford & Glenn Tillbrook (Squeeze).
The song's unusual 6/4 groove, Scots dialect and two-chord 12-string picking pattern seems, for me, to fit perfectly with the poignant and wistful power of this true story.
Lyrics by Rodger Lyall / music by Amy Duncan
Oor Rab, the Bruce faced Lanky Shank
Tae`mak us independent
Then sired a son, Aye Dave the same
Tae tak aheed the royal name
2.
Noo Davy wis a cannier chiel
Wha likit Royal Toons
And grantin’ toon folk fishin rights
Tae sport in ony wie they liked
Chorus
Gied fisher rights tae snigger troot
Stopped ithers comin in aboot
Gied burgh rights tae local folk
The Common Good noo just a joke
3.
And now an act of treachery
By Deeside Salmon Fishery
Brings plans tae bring the Stoney whip
Tae stop the Bervie fishin rip
4.
But they didna’ reckon Ashie Reid
Like Brucie, independent
Sayin’ local folk will manage fine
Oor Charter’s no rescinded
Chorus
Gied fisher rights tae snigger troot
Stopped ithers comin in aboot
Gied burgh rights tae local folk
The Common Good noo just a joke
So here we are at BBC Glasgow, stealing a blogging moment on one of their foyer PCs. Our setlist is posted below. The ones in italics are new songs, written during the Gathering; we're also going to play through all 12 of the original winning songs. To find out more about the songwriters go to the main Burnsong site.
It's been an amazing week, and the winners have generated a huge amount of high-quality material. We'll be putting the full audio for tonight's gig online here in the next blog. As ever, I've used this experience to learn more about how different songwriters approach their craft, and it's been a privilege (and really good fun) to work with such enthusiastic and hard-working musicians.
Time to tune up!
The Gathering setlist
Nov 30th 2007 - BBC Glasgow
Home - Andi Neate
Hell of a Ride - David Ferrard
My Bonnie Red-haired Lassie - Paraig MacNeil
Reverse The Hearse - Tom Murray
The John McGlinchy Bridge - Stevie Palmer
Gowany Banks - Lori Watson and Mairi Campbell
Albasylum - Lisa Paton
Garvock's Ghaist - Rodger Lyall
Stepping Stone - Mary Barclay (Carroll)
Too Busy Playing God - Andi Neate
Smile or Cry - Mairi Campbell and Dave Francis
You've Been Leithed - Aly Macrae
Blackbird - Mary Barclay (Carroll)
The Pig & Its Mistress - Rodger Lyall
My Dad - Amy Duncan
Black Is The Sun - Stevie Palmer
Merl - Lori Watson (Lori's on tour in Germany - the song will be sung in her absence by Mairi Campbell)
Hope Inside - Lisa Paton and Amy Duncan
I Can't Believe - Dave Francis
Honours for Fees - Paraig MacNeil (trad tune "Bonnie Dundee")
Hi all,
Sorry for missing a day on the blog - Euan and Jim, our excellent session musicians, arrived yesterday, and we were rehearsing so intensively that we lost track of the time & weather; as I mentioned before, it is only possible to blog from a picnic table in the car park, which means that when it's raining (as it legendarily does in these parts) we can't take computers outside.
Anyway, Chris the producer has been inhabiting an all-Pro-Tools virtual world for around 3 days now, and all 12 songwriters have been creating one song each every day, so we're now up to a count of 42 songs from the week, plus the original 12 Burnsong winning entries, making a grand total of 54 original songs to choose from for our BBC Glasgow live set tomorrow with the Burnsong band. Some of the recordings will appear on tomorrow's Ian Anderson show; we'll be passing on more to the BBC in the next week or so - here's hoping some of these amazing songs get the airplay they deserve over the coming year.
We're just about to run the second half of the set, so I need to get back to it. For now, I've posted some of MP3s (below) of songs written this week, created using our mobile recording rig. In each case, this song did not exist last Saturday night - and here it is as a finished radio-ready recording. Ain't the creative process a thing to behold!
Yesterday's task was to work on an up-tempo song (singer-songwriters often have a tendency toward melancholia, and we want some lively material for our live set at the BBC in Glasgow on Friday). Lots of people are working on Logic, Garageband or Pro Tools, and I hope to post some examples here soon.
Today everyone is writing a voice-only song. There are some extraordinary vocalists in the group, and working on recordings of their material is a delight - one songwriter I know described recording songs with strong singers as like driving an expensive car; the destination is the same but the journey so much more pleasurable!
I'm blogging this from a pitch-black car park because that's where the wireless reception is clearest. I'm sure everybody had to blog outdoors back in Victorian times...
Today our first song rolled off the studio production line - Padraig's 'Honours For Fees', the only song of the original 12 winners that was unrecorded originally. All the musicians are Burnsong winners.
The songwriters were given their second task - to write a song at a tempo faster than 120 beats per minute. Lots of them are getting into writing with laptops and drum loops - quite a change for some of the more traditional folk writers, and the results are going to be very interesting, I think!
