When I was asked 'what bird's THAT?' when the track started I realised that it's not common knowledge that most birds have at least two 'sounds'. Their 'song' and their warning call and sometimes another sound as well. Blackbirds are often heard but perhaps we don't link all their three sounds to the same bird. In addition to the 'song' which is pretty familiar, there's the 'pinking' sound as I call it, which can go on for quite some time, often in the evening or morning when there's no one else around, so you can hear it clearly. Then there's the call they make as they fly off alarmed, which is quite involved, with a tuneful squark over a few seconds, creating an arc of sound in the sky. The beginning of this track captures two blackbirds having an altercation. 

This track caused me a lot of problems. I created the tune for the blackbird first, like I did with the Thrush. However, I just couldn’t get any musical accompaniment to work. And then it dawned on me (ha!!), I was trying it in the wrong key and it’s actually A minor not A Major. (60bpm)

Once I had made that adjustment, it fell into place. I feel this track is the one of the most lively ‘dance’ type tracks and love the variety it adds to the track listing and the whole overall experience of the album.

I know people say that the album is dead. And that no one has got time to listen to a whole album of music. So I had to think long and hard about whether to leave some of these tracks out and have it as an EP. Then I thought, is the album dead? Does anyone listen to them? Well, I do. I love listening to my records in particular. Really immersing myself in the experience. Being present in the moment, doing nothing else. Just listening. It’s something we don’t do much of these days. So many demands on our time. So if you are listening to this album for the first time, all the way through, in the order I’ve curated for you, thank you.

Blackbird Has Spoken

Life is not about who you once were. It is about who you are now and who you have the potential to be.  About having fun. 
Throwing out the rule book! Thrilled to have had some lovely support from various unexpected quarters.
Teaching Darkness How To Fly was a lovely pastoral excursion, where I set some prose by Ian McMillan to local found sounds. It found a home on BBC Radio 3 (thanks to Elizabeth Alker on her Saturday morning show), and on Cery's Sunday show on 6 Music, who also shared my first 'bird as soloist' experiment Song Thrush Serenade on national radio.
These two tracks are on my debut album, Nature's Grace.

'Who Do You Wanna Be' attracted the kind attention of Tom Robinson and was honoured to make it into his broadcast mixtape on 6 Music. 
BBC Intro Channel Islands (a remix I did for Michael Donoghue) and featured in Fresh Faves from Fresh on The Net as well as on the super independent shows such as WorldWideFM thanks Nitin Sawhney, Anna Phoebe and Kayla Painter, Tim Willett's New Music Generator, Neil March's Trust The Doc show (who have both invited me to share my music at their events,) Andy Sharman's KYN Show, Amazing Radio, Rich James Electro Show, Chris West's The Tripwire, Slava and Trev's show, Russ Evans Electro show and more, many of whom play me week after week and have me as their opening or outgoing show tracks. I am so grateful. 
A collaboration with THE Jackie Weaver earlier in 2021 resulted in national TV, newspaper and radio coverage, which was huge fun.

I'm creating a range of music, from what could be viewed as classical for a modern era I guess? telling a story through notes rather than words. I also love a beat, prose and some simple phrase work (either my own voice, samples or spoken prose) and I love a bop!  so my genre is not really defined or fixed BUT people say they can tell it's my work. I've also been honoured to be asked to do remixes by a number of artists and these have been going down well.

This piece for the Featured Artists Coalition was fascinating to research and write - Ageing and Raging: https://thefac.org/news-directory/fav-insights-by-helen-meissner

Grateful to LA based magazine for this comprehensive interview!: https://shoutoutla.com/meet-helen-meissner-music-producer/

How did it all start?
A glitch in the matrix meant that Garageband ended up in my lap! (I have since moved to Logic)that's Lockdown for you!! never had any desire to write or produce before but love what's coming out in the mix and hope you do too.  
Supermassive black holes in my production knowledge of course. Happy to be guided by anyone who cares to get in touch!
It's a bit like having a baby without realising you were pregnant! There's plenty more where that came from, from other dance to more chill. The world is my oyster. (Boring bits, based in Herts, legend in my own lunchtime). Wrong side of 50, right side of life, left of centre, off of the strip. 

Old enough to know better, young enough not to care

Bring it on!!!

https://www.runninwithmyrhythm.com/2020/08/midlifemix.html?fbclid=IwAR0Ea41vTdcZ8EppwnX2BXqTIBEMW0l5f3s1osUp1wR0_fcbkn2A9C-a1Bc

Email : helefonix@gmail.com

Instagram https://www.instagram.com/helefonix/
Spotify https://open.spotify.com/artist/7xXiGIzlyGqrl91hDNb66i

Blackbird Has Spoken

Helefonix