I think winter may be over. Nice one. That realisation brought with it the realisation that I've made no effort to communicate with you since this country was still in an icy clasp.

OK, there's no brand new double-album to announce but I thought I'd share a little of what's been going on.

 

 

In early February I was given the opportunity to help local charity Lemon Aid take a ton of medical supplies out to the recently earthquake stricken Haiti. I played a minutely small part in all the work that is going on over there but it was certainly an eye-opening and challenging experience. If you're interested feel free to read the blog entry I wrote not long after I got back. 

As always, I had some basic recording equipment with me and made a few on the fly field recordings while I was out there. To have a listen visit Sixty Seconds Somewhere Else, a wee site I put together for various field recordings I've made. If the office atmosphere leaves something to be desired, put some headphones on and spend a minute in an altogether different place.

 

Since the New Year I've been concentrating on writing new material. My hope is to have plenty of songs ready and arranged with the band by the summer so we can start recording. Writing can be a bit of an inward process but I thought I'd let my guard down and share some of what I'm doing.

First up is a very rough recording of a song I just finished. The lyrics and some of the melody weren't entirely finalised at the point this was recorded but it gives you an idea. Have a listen here.

 

I also wrote a song called 'Enoch and the Sponsored Helium Balloon Disaster' a while back which I find quite entertaining. To have a read of the lyrics in the sketch book click here.

 

Aside from being inspired by floating church ministers I also got tremendously excited when a friend lent me his accordion recently. I've since been making an effort to bring the worlds of Steve Reich and early Weird Al Yankovic that little bit closer. To have a look watch this wee video.

I've also had the pleasure of recording some great bands recently. Kilmory Day Trip were in the studio a while back and they've just released the material we were working on as an EP entitled Flag. Do have a listen. I've also been working with good friends The Scottish Enlightenment on some B-sides for a single they're releasing in the next couple of weeks. It must have gone ok because one the 'B-sides' has since made its way on to the album coming out later this year... Until that's released do yourself a favour and listen to and download some of their tracks.

 

OK, that'll do for now. Thanks for reading.

 

 

 

Dan

 

 

 

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