A demo of this track was used on a brilliant time lapse movie by Sam Smith. www.therandom.co.uk It features Dave Holland on strings and trombone plus cut up drums by Tim Kitchen and Rhodes by Jon Overend.

Fastlane LDN

This track was built around a vocal sample which Lori Secanska recorded on her phone one day and email over to me.  I thought it worked as a loop and a track was born (albeit an ultimate slow burner - stay with it!!!)  I added Matt Snowden's drums really late in the process.  I needed to move it from just an electro track to being an electro track with some jazz, hence shuffling the beat when it kicks in.  I love the way his toms took a battering in the end section, hope the headache has cleared little toms!!

No Direction

One of the very first tracks i did in demo form.  It's a real freestyle exercise for Andy Brush on every saxophone he could find in his house.  We actually recorded the sax for this, as there was so much of it, in Pioneer Studios Colchester and Dan Compton added guitar.  Tim Kitchen sent over the drums and even though it was a major headache to mix with so much going on - I always thought the delays were key to making this an electro experience as well as a jazz one - I'm proud of the way it rocks out!!!  Especially on the time sig change.. but let me know!!

Knower and the Known

Unbelievable as it may sound, Andy Brush took one listen to this track and recorded the soprano part in one take at Pioneer Studios, Colchester.  I think it's unbelievable.  Also love Dan Compton's subtle guitar licks and Tim Kitchen delivers a classy drum track.  This one also features a Pianotron - a rare keyboard a bit like a wurly or a rhoes - which was lying around Pioneer.  You have to control the level by holding a metal lever with your knee under the keyboard!!  Chorus up, it's a beast.  

Energy Condensed

Ok this was an interesting one.  I made this track as a midi demo about ten years ago on a Korg Triton in a ground floor flat in Crouch End.  It was a burning hot day and I left the front window wide open.  When I popped out, I forgot I left the window wide open - front of the house - and I couldn't believe it when I returned and all was well! I'd have been sadder about losing the demo than the actual machine!  We dismantled the demo and, a decade later, recorded it for real.  Matt Snowden is the drummer, Andy Brush esq on Tenor.  I do the rest.

True

A slow burning jam that ramps up through the gears... a sparse opening with Dan Compton on guitar and Tim Kitchen on drums. We recorded the grand piano at Pioneer Studios, Colchester just as it was about to go out of tune.  It's on the turn, but rather than re-record I thought it gave it a bit of a lo-fi quality!!  Months later I recorded the Rhodes round at Dave Holland's in Putney (thanks David) Andy Brush kills it on the sax and then Dan delivers one of the great guitar breaks and solos, IMHO. Big!!!

Doubt

Featuring the vocal talents of Lori Secanska, this is the title track and a really weirdo.  After all that jazz, it's a bit of an unexpected turn to go into a mysterious, trip-hoppy twist but that's what this project has been about from the start - unexpected turns in the name of good music!!!  The drums are played by Bob Clarke, recorded in his converted barn in St Osyth, Essex, and I multitracked them, pushing the L & R tracks slightly infront and behind the beat respectively.  Makes for an interesting stereo effect. I then drop them in and out throughout the whole track.  Dan Compton recorded an entire psycho guitar track in the wrong key to give it that dirtiness we were after. Enjoy!

The Man Who Knew Too Much

The last track we wrote for the album and it happened by complete accident.  I was coming to the end of a session in my conservatory with Dan Compton and I just said "lay anything down" which I then changed to "how about laying something down in 7/8" which was just what he wanted to hear with one foot out of the door!  Anyway, he put down this riff in 7/8 but then accidentally slipped into 6/8 without realising.  It had been a long day!  Anyway, that's exactly what you hear at the start of the track, we kept the 7/8 intro but then the body of the song is in 6/8. I then cheekily repeated the 7/8 section in the middle, it's gonna be a bugger to rehearse live!!!  Andy Brush plays tenor and I used autotune to create a three part harmony which reminds me of the brecker brothers, not that I'm comfortably about mentioning us in the same sentence!  Matt Snowden added the drums and I'm on rhodes.

Bogus Smile

I love a guy called Lewis Taylor who created these amazingly gritty slow-funk grooves before he quit the music biz.  I wanted of capture some of that crunchy funk spirit on a track and here we go.  But of course, we like to mix things up here at NC so I wanted to blend a groove with an orchestral arrangement and an almost chamber-music like start with the two soprano saxophones played by Andy Brush.  The guitars are by Dan Compton, two tracks, and Matt Snowden plays drums.  Everything else from the piano to the strings to the glockenspiel is by me, the writer and producer Jon Overend. Hope you like it!

Nothing is Permanent

Just had to tweak this track slightly which is why the old mix has gone and this one has appeared!  Means I lose all the stats and the comments but there we go... this has extra strings in the important end bit. So pah...  Anyway, the story behind this track is it was designed as the album opener - then got binned - then brought back!  It features Tim Kitchen on the drums, Danny boy Compton on the guitar and Andy Brush spiralling his way through the soprano and tenor sax parts.. ooo and I almost forgot, Dave Holland plays some sneaky trombone in the riff at the end...

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