All The Lovely Notes 2021

℗ © Copyright Ian Stokes. All Rights Reserved
Recorded and mixed using Logic. Mastered in Soundcloud
Photography: Thanks go to Nigel and Libby Hume at Hume Photography.

This acoustic guitar instrumental is played in DADGAD tuning (all tuned down a half step)using my Taylor 714 CE guitar.

Summer

You know deep house? Well, this is deep bedsit.This is the sort of song I write when I'm drunk, it turns out. It's also inevitably sort of about lockdown.

Lyrics:

Take it as read,
I don’t get out enough these days.
Live in my head,
My eyes have gone their separate ways.
Make what you will
Of my indolence in staying here.
Drinking my fill,
From the oceans of my hemisphere.
Never follow me,
I don’t know where I’m going, mate.
Drifting in the sea,
The tide is out, it’s getting late.
The tide is out, it’s getting late.

Counting the sand,
The devil’s making work for me.
My idle hands,
Were made for this emergency.
Take me off to war,
And point me at the fortress walls.
This is what I’m for,
I’m here to watch your order fall.
I’m here to watch your order fall.

I have been shown
The workings of the universe.
If I had known,
I’m sure it would have been much worse.
Knowledge is power,
And power only causes pain.
Each passing hour
The poison seeps into my brain.
Keep me in the dark.
There’s so much I don’t want to know.
Leave me off the ark.
Just let me feel the water flow.
Just let me feel the water flow.

A long weight

Till We Have Faces

Written by Björk & Graham Massey
Arranged and Performed by Marco Moreira
Recorded at Molino Sonoro Estudio - July 2019

Compuesto por Björk & Graham Massey
Arreglado e interpretado por Marco Moreira
Grabado en Molino Sonoro Estudio - Julio 2019

Army Of Me

The Hills of Longdendale (Words: Ammon Wrigley, Music: Rutter)

'The Moorland Poet’ Ammon Wrigley (1861-1946) was a writer, historian, singer, song collector and artist from the hills above Saddleworth. Over the past few years I’ve been reading a great deal of his published works and he really does feel like such a proper friend to me -which I reckon is the mark of a truly great writer, especially seeing as that he died nearly eighty years ago. The setting of one of his poems here, from Songs of the Pennine Hills, is my attempt to do justice to his remarkable writings and character.

Gold of Scar & Shale

The Hills of Longdendale

Music video at https://youtu.be/Wi1L68Be-JY

Very easy listening, soft and atmospheric fumbling on my piano. 

This is simply improvisation and experimentation on chord progressions I am working on for one of my most recent (and on going) compositions. 

The piece the theme is derived from is still under construction but I hope to share it soon.

P.S. For the wonderers, photo of the moon taken through a telescope in a beautiful garden in East Malling. 

The Dream Theme (Improvisation on a theme)

Rae Morris:  Vocals, Piano, Synthesizers
Dirk Taubenheim:  Guitars, Vocals

A million thanks for this wonderful collab, Rae!

Written by Rae Morris. Thanks for listening. Merry Christmas!

Demo Songs

Skin  RAE MORRIS ft. The Gatsbys

Across The Borderline DEMO

℗ © Copyright Ian Stokes. All Rights Reserved
Recorded and mixed using Logic. Mastered in Soundcloud
Guitars played: Taylor 714CE (DADGAD tuning - all tuned down a half step).
Photography: Thanks go to Nigel and Libby Hume at Hume Photography.

LYRICS:
Sometimes things get broken
Sometimes they can mend
Sometimes words are spoken
And forgiven ………in the end

Could be a good thing
Could be a bad thing
Who can tell …..how these things go 
Could be a good thing
Could be a bad thing
Don’t ask me……… I don't know

Old man at the table in the bar-room
Takes a breath and gives a little smile
Drinks his beer …..and thinks about a whiskey 
Just a little comfort…….. for a while

Could be a good thing
Could be a bad thing
Who can tell …..how these things go 
Could be a good thing
Could be a bad thing
Don’t ask me……… I don't know

Young man reaches the crossroads
Wondering if somebody switched the signs
His heart says … take the high road
His head says … that’ll be just fine

Could be a good thing
Could be a bad thing
Who can tell …..how these things go 
Could be a good thing
Could be a bad thing
Don’t ask me……… I don't know

Could Be A Good Thing

So, how we going to do this revolution,
When every other bugger’s stuck inside?
We’d really like to get ourselves together,
But every avenue has been denied.

Still, there’s only one thing that is certain,
And that’s that everything will always change.
History isn’t finished until we are.
Now, isn’t that strange?

People seem to seek so frequently for deeper meaning in a sea of symbols and words,
Little planet spinning out in the deep void of space, it’s absurd.
Still we have to send our ashes to the skies,
Sacrificed for an imaginary prize,
All that we’ve got is each other, oh, haven’t you heard?

I know this building is a much-loved institution,
But these hallowed vaults are crumbling overhead.
Once I would have said it needed renovation,
Yes, once upon a time, that’s what I would have said.

But now the cracks are turning into chasms,
And the West Wing is on fire as we speak.
Could be years before the whole thing is in ruins,
Could be next week.

Someone needs to sort the garden out, it’s getting harder now to see the crops for the weeds.
Maybe we should go and look for some healthier place to plant seeds.
We can follow maps as long as there is light,
Find our food and pitch a shelter for the night,
All that we’ve got is each other, and that’s all that we need.

So how, we going to do this revolution?

O The Times

Independent singer-songwriter from Kent, UK. 
Little video introduction here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKMPLBJBK6M

'No Sheet Music' Artist. https://www.nosheetmusic.tv/artists/nic-evennett

"Evennett’s voice is a delicate mystery, warm and lustrous, yet fragile and crystalline – a bewitching blend of Kate Bush and Linda Perhacs, surrounded by dolorous, reverb-drenched piano and woven into broken-hearted balladry." Andee Connors, Pandora 

"Moving, delicate and introspective. As always, Nic Evennett's voice washes over the listener creating an incubated space I didn't want to leave."
Rapt.

Interview: 
https://cocamidemea.wordpress.com/2018/01/30/indieterria-meets-nic-evennett/

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Part of duo Cellar Door. We're over here:
https://soundcloud.com/cdoor