…And Then You Were Gone.

Let’s make this a monthly thing again!

LIVE WORK

It’s February, so live work is quiet, but I’m getting my head down in the studio instead. But fear not – this is time of year to be putting irons in the fire, and that’s what I’m doing…for now!

SONGWRITING

If you’ve got even half an eye on my socials, you’ll know I’m working to get my solo original set up and running. There are lots of new, exciting songs on their way, but I also wanted to incorporate some of my favourite older songs as well. One such track is And Then You Were Gone. Remember how that goes? Listen here:

It’s worth saying this track is nearly 8 years old! I started work on it in 2014 when I bought my first studio setup. It’s a little piece of my history. I didn’t really know what I was doing, but I got myself a cheap copy of Cubase and just channelled a decade or so yearning to make music into it. Lots of the demos were…not keepers…but this one stayed with me, and grew and grew. I’d been in love with duelling 12 strings since my misspent youth listening to early Genesis records, and naturally the Rickenbacker came out to play as well!

The song ended up as a weirdly upbeat piece of melancholy about the way friends of ours sometimes just disappear from our lives without warning. I released it in 2015, and was the first song of my own I ever released into the world. For that reason and all the rest, it has a special place in my heart.

But when I came to revive this song years later, the licence for the old recording software had expired. And so…it was gone. Yes, I see the irony.

So there was only one thing left to do: rebuild the song piece by piece, layer by layer, track by track. Only by ear and fragments of a shattered memory. And that’s what I did. Here’s a little piece of 12 string layering for you, and what adding a floaty pad in the background will do for an atmosphere. If you’re on TikTok, why not follow me?

The 12 string has an inherently twinkly quality to it that I have always loved. Put two (or three) of them together and true magic ensues.

Getting to fall in love with such a pivotal song all over again has been pretty special, and even more so as I’ve learnt a great deal about the technological side of recording music in the last 9 years. I can’t wait to showcase this old gem alongside a slew of new tunes in my new live show later this year. It will be worth the wait!

ON REPEAT THIS MONTH

Obviously, And Then You Were Gone. Go stream it! And if you love it, you can buy it here at my bandcamp.

CHECK THIS OUT

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See you next month!

Marshall