Slightly lethargic this morning I’m afraid but head in and Raj, our lovely assistant engineer, makes the coffee that cures all ills. Franny puts on his basic acoustic part over the edited drums and when Andy arrives he and I go in to add the bass and guitar together.
We get it done in one take and are quite pleased until we realise that we’ve been playing the parts for 2 days and if we didn’t get it in one we should hang our heads in shame.
On Franny’s demo there was a lovely, but tricky acoustic guitar part that he decides to have a go at. And thus begins Franny’s “album whitey”.
I should explain that at some point during the making of each album at least one of us will have to play something that is either so repetitive, so complex, or so against logic that it will cause our brains either to fizz and crackle like a faulty plug or to go into an unnerving hypnotic trance. In Franny’s case it was a part that went against logic and it caused the fizzing. Oh the accursed fizzing.
Notable whiteys from the past include Andy playing the vibes on More Than Us, myself playing the wine glasses on Driftwood, and all of us attempting Writing to Reach You during the Good Feeling sessions.
We decide it best to leave Franny to get on with it. After a while he comes through looking frazzled but triumphant. It is done. Now what next? I know, let’s do the three man accordion.
Ah it’s going to be on of those days. The accordion is one of the least loved of all instruments, but somehow it’s kind of crucial to this tune. Andy bravely steps up, straps it on and has a go. However the straps on the thing are so short that he can’t quite get his fingers in the right places while doing the rhythmic push and pull. So we decide that he should play the part while Franny pulls the bellows. However this means that I have to pull the other end while Franny pushes and push while Franny pulls to keep the little keyboard from slipping out from under Andy’s fingers. Are you following me?
The upshot of all this is that the three of us end up in a kama sutra like pose with an accordion as the meat in our triple decker sandwich. If only the webcam was working.
Eventually, after several takes, this proves too painful and difficult for all concerned and we slim down to a 2 man effort. With Franny sitting down and strapping on the squeeze box and Andy playing half the part while standing behind him. I must admit to being relieved to be out of there. The sound of the accordion was beginning to sound like an animal in some difficulty.
After some time it is done and we all agree never to speak of the shameful incident again. Thank you for listening.
After all that we realise that the track needs quite a lot more music on it if it’s going to live up to it’s potential. We nip down to the other end of the corridor where some old vintage synths are lying around and Franny spends some time finding a sound which could act as a background for other things to rest on. It’s all blending quite nicely, but needs something sharp and high as a contrast. I go out and try a few little parts on glockenspiel which sound ok, but then I try playing them on the top octave of the piano and it sounds much better.
With all this activity the day is flying past and it’s after 10 before we stop for some food.
After dinner Andy comes up with a brilliant one note guitar riff that sets the whole thing off. It’s really weird how it works sometimes. Just one little thing can act as the glue that brings the whole song together. In the chorus section he adds a ridiculously fast percussive guitar and it’s all suddenly sounding very exciting.
I go in and add a few more piano bits and pieces that Franny messes around with using delays and reverbs.
It’s getting late but we’re all quite excited so to round things off Franny goes in and does a guide vocal which sounds really good. We decide to let it rest over night as it’s definitely time for a bit of sleep.
So after all the difficult parts, the tricky playing, the strange, unnervingly sexual positions, and the peculiar combinations of instruments this has turned out to be a very good day. Hope it all sounds good in the morning and we’ve not just gone a bit mad.
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