if music be the remedy for consumer sickness play on!

Back to the train again and as i walked across the concourse at Victoria station trying to avoid the mobile phone shop (i've been in there looking at phones for the last 4 weeks because i cant decide which one to get, i mean i was perfectly happy with the same one for 3 years but now they've put the idea in my head i'm ever so slightly obsessed. There's an inviting feeling of euphoria as i enter the shop that is swiftly followed by a hot sweat developing into panic.. is this what consumerism does to you? its awful. And now i find myself compelled to sneakily have a peak at everyone's phone to see what mega-pixel the camera is, or how big the screen is or if its a flip, slide, clam, classic, candy bar type.. OMG! Please DONT GIVE ME CHOICE ITS SUCKING AT MY SOUL.. so i have now banned myself and walk the other way round the coffee kiosk, also avoiding the Sushi stall since realising the reason my purse is always empty.. oh the battleground that is Vic Station!) its almost a relief to be on the train again.
So, back to the studio today in Brighton to rehearse just Mark and I, and was great to get rid of the sickness with playing music. And i must say we managed to create quite a full sound with Mark playing rhodes, analogue synth and samples all at once and me on vocals and accordion - still the baby one which isnt really good enough - but never mind - i'm not exactly an expert (only about mobile phones). And we were beginning to hear how we can perform the songs another way and it was a bit exciting!
I'm now trying to work out a plan for next week and how we can fit in rehearsing, recording all the live parts on Somebody Said, writing new stuff etc etc oh and shopping.. NOOOOOO!! Enjoy the weekend, only 4 of them till Christmas xx

'Somebody Said'

Hi again.. well whilst working on 'song x' i wrote this vocal at home on my 4-track (i'm soo up-to-date its unreal) and was really getting into it and thought i'd done a rather fine job till everyone else started making comments like 'can't hear the music' and its a bit 'overpowering' which immediately sent my deflated self-satisfied self slumped back into the sofa. UNTIL... someone had the great idea (i think it was The Manager) of turning that vocal into another song which for the last few days we have been working on in great spirits! (And i hope you can tell we had fun doing it with all that brass marching band stuff..) We deliberately kept away from the strings on this one and used horns for the chords mainly which gives it a lovely rich sound, clarinets and flutes in pairs, bassoon in the intro and break (which is my favourite bit), a sprinkling of guitar and bass, and of course soaring sparkly trumpets. The drums are Paul playing live on our mini-drum set-up at 12A, and Mark's orchestration is fast becoming a Mummers trademark! The lyrics i'd also deliberately tried to make as straightforward as possible which is quite unusual for me, but because the melody was in my head for days before writing the song i knew it had to be simple to make it fit that exact chorus line. So what do you think? One of the others has already put it up on the Myspace profile so enthusiastic is he - though the live instruments haven't been recorded yet - and that is one of our many tasks for next week..

Meanwhile rehearsing up in London tomorrow with the full band - which will be very nice to be playing together again..tell you more about that another time.

love luv x

song x clip

We are working on two new songs.. so here is a clip of one - its just an instrumental right now - vocals are coming. It conceals a riff from a well-known song from the 80s (tho i'm not going to tell you what it is). Ecoute bien!

my new home

So do you remember me saying a while back that i was on the verge of solving my train obsession in one? Well here she is the beauty!
Well yes i know she's a little old and rather shabby (aren't we all) but she can do 70mph down hills honest! ! Anyway i took her down to Shoreham beach the other day cos we were doing a photo shoot down there and it was such a beautiful day - cold but warm in the sun, and it was most handy to have my travelling boudoir with me! I have to say that Shoreham beach is my new favourite place, and even good for a little impromptu rehearsal! There was no-one around all day, the sea was glorious and we sat and drank tea watching the sun go down, leaning against the rows of empty white beach-huts; the feint outline of Brighton in the distance looked like Hong Kong in comparison to this huge deserted expanse of stony beach.........o yes and then i had to drive back to london in the dark overshooting the garage and nearly running out of petrol panicking like a crazed fool, praying to a god i really believed in whilst doing 45 uphill with horrid mean (mainly) male drivers blasting their horns at me in their equally horrid shiny FAST cars.

Meanwhile starting rehearsing again next week for a slightly different version of The Mummers.. all will be revealed later! Till then! x