Last year, when the world slowed down, I found myself looking inwards and remembering the past. I see my friendships shift in shape, my relationships ebb and flow, and the ground I’m standing on is moving beneath my feet. This record is an introspective dive, pinpointing the moment I recognised a consistency within me that fights to contradict my life in stasis. Beneath the skin deep layers there is an engine: sometimes idle, but never stalling. This motor propels me with a musical momentum. It compels me to speak my truth, words encircled in melody.

I asked my friend Hannah to draw this concept.

On October 30th, I’ll be releasing a 12 track collection. The music is about 50/50 unreleased and remastered versions singles I’ve published over the last year or so. One song is totally re-recorded to feature the beautiful singing of my good talented friend Sanja Cin.  

The process of recording this music is much indebted to a number of longterm collaborating partners:

Firstly, all of the drums and percussion instruments that you hear were lent to me freely by Aidan Poland. Without unrestricted access to his beautiful drum kit, I never could have captured these rhythms.

All of the keyboards and synthesised FX were produced using equipment loaned to me by Matt G. With the exception of tinkering in humble bedroom studio setup, all of the sounds were captured using Matt’s space where I had unfiltered access to microphones, a computer workstation, and most importantly: silence.

The entire record has been subjected to the fine-toothed audio engineering prowess of my good friend David McLaughlin. Dave took my tangled mess of a record and made it shine bright. 

Special thanks also goes to Maria Toase,, who recorded me acoustically when I was somewhat lost, wandering between disbeliefs, and reminded me to believe in myself. The acoustic music from that session form the bones of the track “Killing Time” paired with instrumental layers that I added almost a year later. 

We all walk a path but rarely do we watch where we are going. Without these individuals’ advice and collaboration I would never have achieved what, for me, is a monumental line in the sand along the shores of my dreamworld.

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The Beauty of the Fells(Part 2 Movement 3 of North-Westlands) is a piano/orchestral piece based on the old Lancashire folk song, 'Pendle, Old Pendle'. It is inspired by my love of the fells in Lancashire and Cumbria.
The Hiker's Tale (Part 2 Movement 4 of North-Westlands) is written from the point of view of a keen hiker who feels the fells call him/her to climb them during the day, but, the fading light warns the same hiker that the fell needs to be alone once more until the following dawn.
Joining me on this track is my brother and fellow Cobbro member, Joe Cobb, playing bass, drums and percussion, and singing backing vocals.

North-Westlands Part 2, extracts from Movements 3 and 4,

Mark Lanegan announces details of his new album 'Gargoyle.' Out on April 28th, 2017 via Heavenly Recordings.

Pre-order 'Gargoyle' on vinyl or CD: heavenlyemporium.com/buy/gargoyle-4/

Beehive

Smile

Yesteryear

This is my band Cobbro's contribution to 'Best Before: 2020 The Foodbank Fundraiser Album', released next Friday on Bandcamp. The album features original songs from 86 bands, mostly from around Preston. It costs a minimum of £5 (You can pay more if you want) and all monies raised go to help local foodbanks.

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David Shurr