Dave - In lockdown recording separately in our three different houses, far from the studio in Lode, meant we were if anything more productive. Battles with technology were worth it. With Featureless Zone Richard sent round a lyric about how time shifts in lockdown, that he suddenly came up with in less than an hour on a Saturday morning. I was on Messenger later that morning. I had plans for the day, little jobs, a bit of relaxation, but they all went out the window once I got the lyrics. I've had this before with Richard's lyrics; I was so grabbed by them I went down to the piano and started to mess around with something I felt was the right feel; not exactly sad, maybe melancholy, a bit wistful, generally out of sorts maybe? Not in a minor key! So I got a rough version of the verse down, and by the time I got back upstairs me coffee was stone cold. Always a good sign. Curse you Richard! I thought to myself, putting the coffee in the microwave. It's never the same reheated! Later that afternoon after 4-5 hours I sent it back to Richard and Mark, with a first clarinet solo, recorded close to the mic and quite breathy and bluesy. Richard put the vocal on, much better than my first wavering crack at it, and genuinely beautiful. And all the better cos it was his sentiments he was voicing, albeit my tune. I got goosebumps listening to his vocal. It's one of the quickest songs we have ever done in terms of writing and recording.
Here is a Spotify playlist of which he says "... they're all fairly ham-fisted chord bashers often written by guitarists, with just a couple of exceptions. They made me feel Well Maybe I Could Do That Too over the years, though it took me a while. Dx"