Almost 18 months since fellow musicians and I recorded the first songs of the High Tide album, we were back at Bunt Studio on Sunday 18 October to lay down the basis of the ninth and tenth tracks. Neither of them had been written when I thought of creating the album, and sat down to list all the music I could put on it. These songs are results of the whole process after it had properly started: after criticism, rejection and self-doubt had reared their heads.
“Break Every Rule” started from a feeling of resentment against perceptions of “how it should be done”: how to write and produce music, how to market it and on what platforms, to what kind of audiences and before reaching whatever age. Despite the resentment I really enjoyed following Jeremy Miller’s advice about putting discordant notes in. Writing the first verse made me reflect on how people’s expectations in other areas had pushed me in directions that weren’t quite right for me. And hence the word “conform” entered the lyrics, just so that I could belt and trample all over it.
More than kicking against other people’s conventions, “Pride” puts the focus on authenticity. As the world of the 2020s seems to be increasingly dominated by dangerous madmen, I feel it is increasingly important to stay true to one's own values, and to put those into one's own words. Or, as it happened in my case, into fiddle solos that I had to put lots and lots of practice into before I could even play them half-decently.
It has been a long and hard journey and it is not done yet. Overdubs aside, we haven’t even begun to record the song that sparked off the whole idea for the album. Although it has been written now, I only knew the title at the time, in 2024. I had just had a second rejection from the conservatoire I had applied to, and the line that kept playing through my head was “I’ll sail this ship alone”.
That first, desperate-sounding idea is turning out to be the last song to be recorded - later this year, I hope. It is difficult because it has a crazy time signature, veering between 15/8 and 4/4. It also features an accordion, which none of my regular colleagues play with enough ease to manage 15/8 bars. The song seems to break even more rules than “Break Every Rule”. But! 9… 10… We’re definitely getting to the end of the journey.