A weekend imbued with magic at Studiowz overdubbing drums, bass and woodwinds. All of which could not have happened with the support of Help Musicians.
I’m happy, tired and trying to find the words to describe all of it. I don’t want to gush and make you sick, this is Britain after all.
It was perfect though. How?! All because of these people. Owain, who has created the most amazing studio in every way. Daisy and I arrived at 2:30am to a fire still glowing, delicious coffee & poached eggs in the morning and records playing. A goblet for my wine in the evening (turns out it does taste better). You can feel comfy, I mean really comfy, there. It’s something else. To be producing your own stuff is daunting as fuck, but Owain is practically a mindreader and an extraordinary talent who seemed to reach into my mind and manifest the exact sound. Tom Sinnott was assisting with bucketloads of enthusiasm and joy, helping translate sheet music to an illiterate person (me).
A seven-months pregnant Daisy Palmer and Andy Low completely smashed it, also with mega mindreading skills, bombing through ten songs in a day, each song glueing together like magic as they played.
Dan Moore, who gets this body of songs, and me, more than anyone on earth arranged woodwinds on five songs having never done it before and hit it out of the park (he is really very, very good at it). And to the woodwind players Ruth Hammond, Eleanor Tinlin, Ben Waghorn and Taz Mains who made me cry the minute they started playing together, and named their newly formed quartet Pot Pourri! Actual woodwinds, wtf.
The recording studio has always intimidated the shit out of me, I won’t lie. I don’t think I’ve ever really been able to trust myself in these kinds of situations before now. We were chatting at the end of the weekend about how happy I was with it all, and I asked myself why I hadn’t had that same old tiring internal dialogue going on. And I think it was trust, I trusted every person that took part this weekend, and maybe it starts with trusting yourself. Or drinking less coffee in the session.
But sure look. It was pure pleasure. Just how it should be. I’m overwhelmed. And I gushed. Sorry.