Okay. Feels like a month has passed since the first update but in fact its only been 8 days. We’ve done more than a months work in that time though.
Where to even start.
Well …. Sean, John and I were chatting about it and figured we’ve in fact written 6 brand new songs since I’ve arrived. Madness. I love them all.
By the end of Week 1, we had the 10 songs done. All nearly fully written, a few middle eights missing here and there but thats the ongoing joke of this album between the three of us! (Still one to complete!!!)
There is definitely something about Black Dog Studios, here, in South London! Every time I come over, a little bit of magic happens. This time is no different. Songs just happen!
It’s safe to say, similar to my last EP Sparks, this album is not going to be easily pigeon holed, there’s a mix of stuff but I’ve definitely delved into some heavier, sassier land with a few of them and I’m loving getting to experiment.
On Tuesday, Melvin Duffy came down to the studio. Wow, is all I can say, he played pedal steel and weissenborn on a couple of the tracks and he blew us all away. The talent out of him was unreal and he’s just the most lovely man. We had a great day of music playing, laughing and drinking beers! He’s done a lot of touring with First Aid Kit (Swedish duo), and as it turns out I had seen him playing in Dublin in the Olympia Theatre last year!!
We did a live recording of my brand new song ‘Selfish’, just vocals, keys and pedal steel. It’s the most personal song I’ve ever written and I really love the simplicity of the recording.
On Wednesday, we had Alex Moody down to play some drums on a few tracks! He was just what they needed and the songs immediately started to take more of a shape and what a general sound lad! I now have many friends in Brighton, I need to get myself down that way next time I’m over!!
We have my buddy David Henry working on some string arrangements for two songs over in Nashville as we speak, he’s played on all of my previous EP’s and in our eyes, the man can do no wrong.
I also have my brother Dara Munnis working on some piano parts back in Dublin, and there’s no doubt they are going to build up the songs even more! On a side note – his cat Pip, just gave birth to kittens yesterday and I got a FaceTime live stream of it happening (I LOVE KITTENS), they are the only thing making me want to go back to Dublin at the moment!
We now have 3 full days left, and we have to do a couple of finishing touches here and there …. few vocal takes, write another middle eight, some backing vocals. But touch wood, everything will have come together by the time I have to fly home!
In the meantime, we are having an absolute laugh in the studio and we headed to North London for a poker night with some great dudes! Having producer, Dave Eringa, teach me how to play poker was pretty hilarious.
