A 14 track album on CD-R (SHR14CD)

AUDIO

REFLECTION TRACKLIST

- Greener
- Don't Let Go
- Castaway
- No Better Time
- Playgrounds
- Good For You
- Closer
- Used To Love Me
- Not Returning
- Forgotten
- I Tried
- Beautiful Things
- I'm Over It Now
- Where The Grass Is Greener

View the lyrics to this album

RECORDING INFORMATION

REFLECTION

It's been a very long time since the last full album "Long Lost" which was completed in November 2006. Twelve years in fact! Where did all that time go, why did this one take so long and what was I doing in the interim period? I often ask myself and it's hard to answer that! Generally, just life and other distractions got in the way, coupled with technology updates and perhaps a lack of commitment to simply finish songs that I had started, i.e. writing lyrics and getting decent vocal takes. Some of the recordings started before "Long Lost" was completed and were being recorded alongside those which appeared on that album. They weren't finished at the time because I felt they either didn't fit in with the other songs or I simply had too many to complete. I did complete a few other songs during this period which were one-off recordings plus a "country" style EP of 4 songs under the name of Hank Dumpertruck in 2012. It can be downloaded free here at https://hankdumpertruck.bandcamp.com/releases.

The name of the album "Reflection" was settled on a few years ago based upon the lyrical content I had written at the time which looked back over the years wistfully and nostalgically. A photograph taken by a friend, Ann Greenaway, became the front cover, designed way before the completion of the songs, has that same kind of reflective feel. By late 2017, I had so many new ideas I was keen to record, I knew I had to first complete the ones in progress before starting anything new. This is when I committed to completing lyrics and recommencing recording vocals, occasionally re-recording guitars or adding new parts. By late February 2018, the songs were "mix ready" and I commenced mixing. This took longer than anticipated due some more re-recording and re-learning the mixing process on the computer. However, the mixing did make many of the songs come alive again particularly as many of the backing tracks were completed a long time before vocals were finally added. Most of the recording started on a Korg D1600, a standalone hard-disk recorder, as did songs on "Long Lost". In 2009 I bought an iMac and transferred all of the tracks from the D1600 into Logic 9 on the iMac. The iMac and Logic took a while to learn. They're certainly more sophisticated than the old four track cassette machines I started recording on in the 80s! I sold the iMac in 2016 and bought a MacBook which runs Logic Pro X and is now my "studio".

Below is a description of each song on the album and its history. I hope you enjoy the songs! Mark - August 2018

GREENER is an idea from July 2000 with the recording starting in March 2003 tracking an acoustic guitar. The full title of the idea was "Where The Grass Is Greener" which was originally going to be the album title. I even mocked up an album cover with a potential track listing! This changed to the shorter title of "Greener" and the album name became "Reflection". The mandolin style beginning is actually just an acoustic guitar played at half speed and then sped up to normal speed. This was recorded long before I owned a real mandolin. The last track on this album retains the full original ltitle and is a reprise version.

DON'T LET GO An idea from August 2000, which for a long time was called "Window Shopping" due to a vague idea about singing "shop window" in the "starting block" part. Recording commenced in October 2010 and was the first new recording on the iMac using Logic 9. I eventually re-recorded the electric rhythm guitars in 2017. It was the first song I started mixing in February 2018 and took quite a long time to get right as I was re-learning the mixing process using plug-ins, automation etc within Logic Pro X.

CASTAWAY - A song idea from August 1999 with recording commencing on the iMac in September 2011. The backing track was finished in February 2013 so had to wait a while before vocals were recorded. It's one of the few songs to add some sound effects. The sea and high pitch string sound were inspired by a well-known Bobby Goldsboro song which always invoked images for me of the beach on a hot day, in keeping with the title of "Castaway". This song contains a small harmonica part to add to the atmosphere of the song. I'm not a harmonica player so this was fun to put together!

NO BETTER TIME - Another idea from August 1999 with recording beginning in January 2003 on the D1600 and backing track completed in February 2012. It was a contender for "Long Lost" but I chose other songs to work on. Unbelievable that an idea from 19 years ago finally surfaces!

PLAYGROUNDS - The idea came about in January 2003 and the recording of the acoustic guitars started soon after to a click track on the D1600. Soft drums and piano were added later. The backing track has been finished for many years and vocals were finally added in early 2018 along with some atmospheric guitar. It's quite a nostalgic song about lost youth.

GOOD FOR YOU - An idea from August 2001, which was also when the recording started on the D1600. It may well have been a contender for "Long Lost" but recording stalled as I was working on other songs. For a short time, I tried using an old copy of Cubase on a fairly new PC laptop to record the guitar solo. However, the laptop wasn't up to the job and was poor quality. I guess I may have re-recorded the solo on the D1600 as my record of dates state February 2007. The lyrics refer to Winter passing and Spring and Summer being here. Every time Summer moved into Autumn I felt that I'd missed the opportunity to get the song out in time. I've missed Spring 2018 but not quite the end of the Summer!

CLOSER - An idea from March 2000, recorded on the D1600 within 18 days from the end of July 2001. This makes it the oldest recording and therefore the first song recorded for the album. The main vocals were completed in December 2014 and some backing vocals were added in 2017.

USED TO LOVE ME - An idea from early 2009, recording of 6 & 12 string acoustic guitars commenced in December 2009 on the iMac. The guitars were re-recorded mid-2011 and the again in early 2013 due to some timing issues with the computer. The backing track was completed in March 2013 and vocals recorded in early 2018.

NOT RETURNING - A song that for some time had no title and was just known as "Funky"! Thankfully, the lyrics helped dispense with that name! An idea from November 2002, recording began at the same time on the D1600. It was a "sister" song to "The Story of Us" sharing similar drum rhythms and choppy guitars so I decided to delay completion until after "Long Lost" was finished. The backing track was completed in early 2007 but had to wait until ten years later for vocals!

FORGOTTEN - An idea from April 1999 which commended recording on 2nd August 2001 on the D1600 and the full backing track was finished 3 weeks later! I always really liked the idea and the melody but the song was long and I already had a couple of lengthy songs on "Long Lost". The string sounds came from a Yamaha SW1000XG soundcard which was in an old desktop PC I owned. I used the same card or an earlier version (Yamaha SW60XG) for drums and other sounds sounds for songs on "Appetence"/ "Postcards From Home". Finally, after all this time, it's finished.

I TRIED - There used to be a one minute acoustic demo of this song on the website although I've no idea where the MP3 file went. The idea is from sometime in 2007 and was started on the iMac in December 2009 with the tracking of a 6 & 12 string acoustic, although these were replaced in June 2011. Some echo guitar was added together with a rhythm part played on a Danelectro 12 string, which I later sold. A Rickenbacker 12 string riff was added and the full backing track was completed in February 2013. Vocals were added in January 2018.

BEAUTIFUL THINGS - This song was recorded and mixed in 6 days in August 2012 directly to the iMac and is the only song on "Reflection" which was already complete. The idea is from August 2009. It's amazing to think this song was completed in 6 days whereas some of the songs have taken over 17 years! The song was recorded for a friend's birthday. Apart from a few people it hasn't been previously heard by anyone, which is a shame as I really liked the recording but here it is, slightly remixed for this album.

I'M OVER IT NOW - This song has gone through a number of changes since recording began on the iMac in December 2009. It was an idea from April 2001. Either through bad planning or new ideas during the recording, I realised that not only was the song a little too low to sing but it needed extending to accommodate some new idea parts. I raised the pitch by a semi-tone which sped up the song a little, then extended out the outro so that I could record some more guitars and vocal parts. It turned out pretty well I think.

WHERE THE GRASS IS GREENER - This is a reprise of the first song. I was going to use this reprise as a secret track but that's been done so many times including on "Long Lost" I decided to give it some credit of its own! There was always an intention to remix a reprise from "Greener". If you listen to the main track and this track, you'll notice that the last chord is different, with the Reprise version having a "resolution" chord whereas the main track's last chord ends with more of a "question". It's a little bit of fun and shows off more of the multitracked vocals.