Music, instruments and mix: paulfcook
Lyrics and vocals: Connon MacRae.

Ghost Me

LIPS4EYES

And there's a boiling sea
That's deep inside of me
You're safe on the shore
While I'm keeping score
So many things that I went to say
But the waves pushed them out to another day
I'm beached on your frown
While the future sinks down

I fear the loss of the Northern Star
And never getting back to where you are
I make sure you don't see
All the anguish in me
Help me fight this fade to black
And be the light that guides me back
Safely to shore
Back to your door.

I'm just trying to get home
(to where I want to be, to who I want to be)
I'm just trying to get home
(so take the time to see, a better life for you and me)

And I'm trying to get home
And I'm trying to get home
And I'm trying to get home
And I'm trying to get home

And there's a boiling sea that's deep inside of me
And there's a boiling sea that's deep inside of me
And there's a boiling sea that's deep inside of me
And there's a boiling sea that's deep inside of me
(just wanna go home)
And there's a boiling sea that's deep inside of me
(just wanna go home)
And there's a boiling sea that's deep inside of me
(just wanna go home)
And there's a boiling sea that's deep inside of me
(just wanna go home)

Northern Star

The track is what happens when you put a Stylophone through an Eventide FX pedal and then cover it in drums and see how dirty you can make vocals and still make out (roughly) what is being said.

OMG - LOL

The track came about when I found a cheap plastic, no-name, made-in-China, keyboard the kind of thing you find in a pound shop) in the house of a family member who had died and its basic drumbeats, and wonky keyboard sounds formed the basis of the song. Prior to their death they had become a little reclusive but sadly, their life had always seemed underlived. This resonated with a part of my life where I struggled with my mental health and also reminded me of something I had read years ago where a palliative nurse in Australia had listed the top five regrets people had when they were close to death. Unsurprisingly they included ‘I wish I hadn't worked so hard’, ‘I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends’ and ‘I wish that I had let myself be happier’. 

Having had work seriously impact my own mental health I know how difficult it is to get out of the quicksand of depression. I kept making lists of grand things I wanted to do, and my inertia meant I never achieved, and this made the feelings of failure worse. In the end I took drastic action to break the cycle and quit my job with nothing else to go to. Not a wise idea but necessary and I was very lucky to have a financial buffer to give me time off and job hunt.

At the same time, I began making small course corrections that made a big difference. I started walking, not too far at first, made some tentative steps into writing and returned to making my own music as well as listening to more music and going to gigs. Years on my mental health is robust and I walk regularly, write reviews for Joyzine.org and have filled up hard drives with my own music, been involved in some great collaborations with other artists and a formed a band.

“This is no rehearsal make the most of your life”

No-name keyboard / bass guitar / vocals: paulfcook
“Hip hooray”: Kate (Wickotron) Wickens

https://www.mind.org.uk/ 
https://www.samaritans.org/

Lyrics:

Life is short so don’t get caught wasting time on things you bought 
Chasing money chasing jobs all your time is being robbed
Phone a friend or buy a pet the more you laugh the less you fret
It’s pointless chasing all that wealth if you destroy your mental health
This is no rehearsal make the most of your life

I wish I worked more, wish I’d had less sex, spent less time with friends and family
No one’s ever said
On their death bed

Always running always late leaving everything to fate
Fingers crossed or come what may don’t just think things will go your way
When bad things bring you to your knees you may not see the wood for trees
It’s up to you to seize the day carpe diem hip hooray
This is no rehearsal make the most of your life

I wish I worked more, wish I’d had less sex, spent less time with friends and family
No one’s ever said
On their death bed

Ooh la la la la, ooh la la la, ooh la la la la, live your best life 
Ooh la la la la, ooh la la la, ooh la la la la, live your best life 
Ooh la la la la, ooh la la la, ooh la la la la, live your best life 
Ooh la la la la, ooh la la la, ooh la la la la, live your best life 

I wish I worked more, wish I’d had less sex, spent less time with friends and family
No one’s ever said
On their death bed

I wish I worked more, wish I’d had less sex, spent less time with friends and family
No one’s ever said
On their death bed

This Is No Rehearsal

At my primary school we were regularly herded into the main assembly hall where the school record player would be wheeled in (a tall wooden speaker with the turntable mounted on top). They would play the ‘Movement, Mime and Music’ (MM&M) albums and the kids would have to be trees in a high wind, a fast-moving river flowing around the room, ogres, animals or, in this case, brave St. George.

paulfcook:
keyboards, ukulele and audio editing of ‘A Mummer’s Play’ narrated by James Dodding, from the BBC Record ‘Movement, Mime And Music: 2 - Mimes To Music’ released in 1970.

Cover drawing by Rosy L

St. George

This is the first track from a forthcoming EP 'The Fragile Brain', in celebration of my Father who died from vascular dementia in April this year.

This track was inspired by my time sitting by his hospital bed in the days before he died. He was very peaceful and in no pain and looked more like he was in a deep sleep.

It features a Gretsch Resonator guitar that I bought whilst staying near the hospital and also features midi-flute.

https://www.dementiauk.org/

Keeping Watch

An electronic nod to some of the tracks I was listening to in the nineties.

Melting Point

The audio for this came from 'Piano & Organ Playing Made Easy' by Mr. David Sirkin. It was a 7" record I found when clearing out my uncle's house. I'm assuming that it belonged to my Grandfather who was a keen organ player; maybe even thanks to this record. There is no sleeve and no date on this and a search brings nothing helpful up but I would guess it's from the 1950s or 1960s.

The rhythm of the voice suggested the tempo and given that it was badly scratched I was thankful to find a software plug in which removed most of the bad crackle and clicks.

I edited the audio and am playing, keyboards, bass and darbuka.

No Musical Talent

I was staying in an Airbnb over Christmas and they had a piano. I was improvising one morning and recorded the basis of this track. Back home I edited the recording and added the synth-washes, a clavinet and a guitar part at the end.

Reykjavik Lullaby

Paul F Cook and The Happy Somethings release their collaborative single ‘Something Happy’, a 2½ minute slice of positive pop that aims to put a smile on your face and a spring in your step.

The song is available in three flavours: Original, Acoustic and a Kitchen Disco Mix. It’s £1 a track or £2.50 for all three but you can pay more if you want to and all profits from the track will go to the mental health charity Mind (www.mind.org.uk).

Something Happy

Something Happy - paulfcook and The Happy Somethings

Whilst working on another track I came across a sound that made me think of an old school film overture. That led me to think about DEVO who had their 'Corporate Anthem' (1977) which was a nod to the corporate anthem in the film Rollerball (1975). 

I decided to create my own pompous, overblown corporate anthem replete with brass, timpani and even a gong. 

Playing tips: stand in front of your paulfcook poster every morning, place your left hand on your chest, stand erect, and stare off into the horizon with steely determination while the anthem plays. You then have my permission to go about your day.

Corporate Anthem

During a recent trip to Italy I bought a thumb piano in Naples. It was a vibrant yellow which only realised later mirrored the Sorrento lemons you see everywhere from shops, restaurants to decorating plates, mugs, ornaments, and clothes.

Sorrento lemons are like lemons on steroids being about three times larger than the ones that get sliced for your G&T or gastropub fish and chips. One restaurant in Pompeii gave them to our group them sliced with salt, pepper and olive oil. An amazing explosion of flavour.

This track was inspired by the warm sound of the thumb piano, the colour of Sorrento lemons, the intense midday heat and the sparkle of sunlight on the Bay of Naples. The sound of cicadas at the end of the track was recorded whilst visiting the historic city of Pompeii.

Sorrento Lemon

Jet lag insomnia led to me to record this at 4am

In Somnia We Rust

A collaboration between paulfcook and Machina X

Who Will I Count The Stars With Now

Maypole

We Choose To Go The Moon is one of a set of 4 tracks I wrote in celebration of the Anniversary of the Apollo 11 Moon mission; from the ideal, the journey, the return and the celebration.

These tracks can also be bought from my Bandcamp page: https://paulfcook.bandcamp.com/album/we-choose-to-go-to-the-moon

We Choose To Go To The Moon

'Floating Caves I' was the jumping off point for this set of tracks. It seemed lonely on its own and led to a week of getting lost in drones and experimentation with MIDI, analogue, field recordings and enormous reverb on piano chords.

Floating Caves I

paulfcook writes, produces & remixes using acoustic and electronic instruments & field recordings. He is a member of the London/Liverpool group Skylon.

He has been played on Tom Robinson's 6Music show & the Mixtape, Elizabeth Alker's Radio 3 show Unclassified, as well as Exile FM's Monday Night Ride Out & Trust The Doc radio shows.

Paul writes about music for Joyzine.org

paulfcook

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