Just wanted to keep you posted on the latest goings on in The Shed.

With the arrival of my beaten up old Harmony tenor guitar, I’ve been happily laying down rough demos in my little wooden house. These will be magically transformed soon when recording begins with the talented Mr Dave Pye.

I’m also very pleased to let you know Sean Lakeman, brother and producer of Seth Lakeman, has also stepped in to help out with a bit of executive production. MP3′s and notes have been zipping between Dartmoor and the eerie east.

And the album/e.p./whatever it will become has a name…

But that’s a secret for the telling once it’s done and dusted.

Wish me luck y’all!

Love & rockets from the soggy hinterlands.

Holly

With that in mind I have decided, for definite, I will be making some kind of a record in there. Whether or not it ends up an E.P., a free download, or as I promised myself so many moons ago, an album.

Shed Music Rocks.

Watch this space.

Featuring the song “My Love” in the closing scenes, the indie flick was written by Jenna Mattison, directed by Brian Austin Green and featured both actors plus Jennifer Blanc and Alex Band of The Calling.

The other day I had an epiphany. I’ve made 3 albums so far:

Album 1: ‘Automiracles’ took 5 days to record 6 days to mix. (This was  pre digital days, all analogue so no procrastination involved)

Album 2: ‘While You Were Sleeping’ took a few sporadic weeks over a few months, sometimes through the night to record in analogue and digital.

Album 3: ‘Life Is Beautiful’ was a week in Denmark to record, a week in Copenhagen to mix, a few months in Manchester to re-record, and a few weeks in London to mix at Sanctuary. It began in March,  was mastered in October and finally got released by Sanctuary the following June.

All of them took lots of time, cost lots of money and got me nicely into debt, even the the Sanctuary one I hasten to add.  (Have you ever heard of a rich indie musician…?)

The thing about albums is they become more and more olympian as you try to out do the last one.    And yet I’ve always crazily liked the idea of continuing to release music because I keep writing these darned songs…

And so I come to the long awaited album No. 4. Songs are written, money is almost there and then it dawned on me the other day: why make another album when I’ve made 3 already? Isn’t the definition of madness doing the same thing and expecting a different result?   Isn’t ‘being human’ about evolving? Isn’t it time for something different? Something else? In short why put all those songs and that much money and effort into one little piece of plastic?

And so I have decided to try something else. I will record and release piece by piece. E.P by E.P., single by single. Whatever way will get the songs recorded and ‘released’ into the big wide world.

Phew…I feel liberated already.

Each album recording begins with a new book..there’s lots of organising to do making records…lots of production notes…lots of scraps of paper to piece together. The scrapbook makes it real…it’s symbolic. Progress is mapped…a destination awaits.

Welcome: Album No. 4 Notebook

Who comes up with these rip off schemes? Please don’t bother to buy it. As for my own book, perhaps it’s time to publish those poems of mine after all…

But before we leave behind the remnants of 2011,  we thought we’d post up last years  download ‘charts’ courtesy of The Orchard.

There’s some real surprises there, not least the fact people are downloading music in countries we never released in the first time around (USA, Switzerland, Australia, Germany, France, Japan). USA is still the most popular country for downloads – UK is number 6. No surprise ‘Hallelujah’ is top of the charts, but The Longest Night at No. 9 – very surprising.

Thanks everybody for spreading the word.  Your support is very much appreciated! Hopefully new material will be traveling round the globe as soon as funding’s there. In the meantime, watch this space…

Top 10 Tracks of 2011

1. Hallelujah
2. Flesh ‘n’ Blood
3. Let’s Go Home
4. Barefoot In The Park
5. Everyone’s Lonely
6. My Love
7. Glittering Creatures (Remix)
8. More Than A Storm
9. The Longest Night
10. Wooden House

Top 10 Countries 

1. USA
2. Canada
3. Germany
4. Australia
5. France
6. United Kingdom
7. Switzerland
8. Sweden
9. Japan
10. Denmark

Top 5 Releases

1. Hallelujah (e.p.)
2. Greetings From N.Y. (Mini Album)
3. Life Is Beautiful (Album)
4. While You Were Sleeping (Album)
5. My Love (e.p.)

Who would have thought 14 years on ‘Hallelujah’ would be as popular as ever, with last year’s downloads (legal ones at least..) reaching 642.  Not bad for a first demo. Looking forward to throwing some new music out there in 2012.

Incidentally, most of the back catalogue can be found on iTunes, Amazon, the usual suspects. Where as the next record will be pressed up first onto a lovely CD,  promise.