All good things to those who wait[1]
…of course, while you wait, a lot of other stuff might come your way too, like a Layers blog post but, hey, you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth, right? The news for those of you eagerly awaiting a new Layers album though, is rather splendidly upbeat.
The weekend has been spent, once again, in the retro-technical Aladdin’s cave that is DB Studios and we’re excited to announce that the first phase of recording is now complete. Allow the thermostat of your excitement to rise just above “frozen mammoth corpse” before cautiously opening the coolant valve as we qualify that by saying that we’ve got drums and bass guitar recorded for every track but there’s still a lot of work to do. While Dan and Paul are now free to put their feet up and mentally prepare themselves for the horror that is recording backing vocals, the burden of work falls on the broad, medium and petite shoulders, respectively[2], of Caleb, Neil and Sarah.
There’s always something slightly scary about the first iteration of studio recordings. Ideas that seem to work in rehearsal, then sound a little bit ropey recorded on a digital recorder in the practice room are given their first real test – will they really work or were we drunk on hope, delusion and Sarah’s bizarrely potent homemade cider?
Well again, without wishing to let optimism get out of hand and fill a frankly terrifying world with the balm of false hope, we’re tickled pink to report that, a few early modifications made, all of the songs that we’ve embarked upon have passed the early test.
So: delays, excuses and nob-gags aside, what can you expect? Well, we’ve rewritten and re-recorded a couple of old favourites and turned them from turgid to toe-tapping. We’ve got new compositions that are making bold forays into funk territory and we’ve somehow managed to be simultaneously more experimental and more commercial.
It’s great fun being in the studio; lots of laughter mixed in with the creativity and the hard work. We’re hoping that will all come across in the recording.
We’re also hoping that some of our fans and followers will get involved in the recording this time around. Details to follow but we’re going to be recruiting backing singers galore, percussion shakers and soloists so if you’ve always wanted to be on an album recording, watch this space or, if you’re super-eager, drop us a line.
Expect a gentle increase in blog frequency as we keep you in touch with developments as they happen. For now, Layers out.
x
[1] A quote, although most remembered from Hannibal Lecter, originally attributed to Violet Fane, nom de plume of Lady Mary Montgomerie Currie. Readers falling into the narrow Venn diagram overlap that contains fans of The Layers and Countdown may be tickled upon realising that Ms Currie’s pseudonym is an anagram of “i.e a TV felon” therefore enabling them to share the quote. Is this mere coincidence? Yes.
[2] Approximately five regular-sized shoulders, but that seemed a weird way, although admittedly more concise, of explaining it.