Monday, July 21st, 2008
Hello Dears!
I just thought I’d write to let y’all know how we’re getting on with the new album. It’s been a while since we were last in the (big) studio and while touring is flippin’ great, quite frankly you get a little bit bored of playing the same songs over and over again. So… we’ve got seven or eight spangly new tracks already demoed and sounding rather good, and another seven or eight written and ready to commit to hard-disk at our ‘lil studio in Camberwell. Andrew’s gone into studio hibernation and hasn’t seen the daylight for a good few weeks. If you asked him what day it was he wouldn’t have a clue and I’ve noticed the enormo-jars of Nescafe going down alarmingly quick! Meanwhile, in true diva style I managed to get some of my vocals done at home in my PJ’s surrounded by feathers and down in my makeshift vocal booth. It’s really refreshing to get stuck in and work on new stuff.. and of course this is the first time we’ll be recording with our all-new super tight rhythm section, Rusty and Mr Atkins. Yay!
Here are some titles of our new songs, you know, just to whet your appetite…
Into The Night
Our Heart
Love, Love, Love
Upon Hilly Fields
Southern Melancholy
Why Can’t Everyone Be Nice For A Change?
Up In Flames
Crying In the Morning
That’s When Trouble Begins
‘Why Can’t Everyone’ is a beaut – all gospel harmonies and slow, soulful melody with a very hummable chorus, ‘Love Love Love’ is all dolly-esque and country, ‘Southern Melancholy’ has gone all Scott Walker and is so, so lush, and another of the new ones sounds like James Bond and looks set to be another LS epic. Current favourite is ‘Upon Hilly Fields’ which sounds like somewhere between Dirty Old Town and Witchita Lineman (we managed to steer it away from Crocodile Shoes thank goodness, but you get the drift!) We’ve already decided to borrow my step-sister’s blue-eyed horse, Kel for the video, and I’ll be dressed as Doris Day in Calamity Jane. Yee ha!
That’s your lot for now. Don’t forget to join in the fun at the forum www.luckysoul.co.uk/forum and we might even let you into a few more second album secrets if you ask nicely.
Lots of Love,
Ali (the little tease) x x x
Thursday, June 5th, 2008
Howdy folks, I felt that as I’ve been a Lucky Soul for nearly a year now (where has the time gone?), that I’m well over due for posting my first ever blog. So, without the use of a safety net or general anesthetic, here goes.
I’m happy to say that we have managed to overcome a major hurdle, one of many no doubt, on the road to making the next album. What we’ve achieved is to learn, create, learn again, create some more, do a bit more learning, record, do some editing, re-record, change keys, re-learn, re-record and then finally mix demo recordings of a bunch of songs that will go on the next album. And they sound bloody great, even if I do say so myself.
Why put sooooooo much time and effort into recording mere demos of songs I hear you say ? Why not just go into a nice studio, with great equipment, friendly staff and the best coffee that money can buy and make an album? Well, when playing a song with a band in a practice room you think you know what it sounds like and what works and what doesn’t. And sure, one can learn a great deal about how to best play a song by simply playing it, but you can see (or hear as the case may be) a song in a different light once it’s recorded and you listen back to it. Often it turns out as you had expected, other times it doesn’t. And not to say that when a song sounds different from your expectations that it’s a negative thing for you can be pleasantly surprised too.
So, the benefit of all the loooooong days and even loooooooooonger nights tinkering away with instruments, lyrics, melodies, knobs and sliders is to gain a fresh perspective of our songs. And now it’s time to start the next batch, some of which we prepared earlier and all of which will be just as tasty. And we’ll get straight on to it, right after we get back from our lil’ trip to Russia 
For your viewing pleasure I’ve included a photo of the view from the window in my home studio where the previously mentioned songs were lovingly mixed. This is the view that I would look at for inspiration and occasionally in desperation. Sometimes I’d just gaze and procrastinate, which can be quite useful at times too as it turns out. So if you’re in need of something to focus on for inspiration or just a distraction try looking at this picture. It may help.
Till next time,
Ka kite anō
Mr Atkins
p.s. the blob on the window isn’t a small smelly gift from a passing birdy, even though it might look like it. It’s actually just paint.
