The Misinformation Age (2020)
A four track EP released in the middle of the pandemic 2020. I wrote quite a few songs in that period. ‘Three chords in my hand’ was written one day in my living room and became a fun little video project. I’d built up from a performance of the song on acoustic/vocals into some harmonies and some video clips of me essentially working on the song throughout the day with some wonderful cameos from my four year old daughter Rowan.
This ended up in the Sheffield Star and I had some kind feedback so I pushed it further and re-recorded it under a newly built fortress of duvets and a mattress. In the very top room of our very old rented terrace house there was an un-used space. Using sticks, string and a disassembled cot I built a sort of ‘igloo’ and crawled inside. It was funny to watch maybe but highly impractical. You had to hit record, crawl on all fours inside and then hope to god you did a good take. Listening to your vocal track to harmonise with? Not a chance.
Full steam ahead was the second track. A bit of a question about the rapidity and priorities of the UK during the pandemic.
At the height of the BLM protest I wrote a song called ‘white lies & puppets’ one morning. I think it was the day Donald Trump had protestors beaten down so that he could have his photo with a bible (Edit: This actually aged well).
The final song on the E.P just came from a jam I was having in my new studio space. I’d bought a pack of acoustic treatment tiles to stick up in my daughter’s old bedroom. After a few beers I played one of my originals from years back ‘Totes Emosh’. Terrible title but a song I can always still get behind. It’s about the idealism taught and fostered in schools and then sometimes suppressed later on.
1. Three chords in my hand 03:40
2. Full steam ahead 02:57
3. White lies & puppets 03:00