"I've Seen The Future, Baby"

Hello gang!

Wow. So I haven't updated the blog in what seems like forever.

Here's a quick catch up. Sean and I have finished the recording and mixing of 11 new songs for my new album... Temposhark album 2!

We spent a few days at the end of last week tweaking everything and went to Andy Bradfield's studio in West London for a few days to give our feedback on his mixes and edit them to make them all sound perfect. 

It's got to that funny point at the end of an album when both Sean and I can hardly tell what we think anymore of the record as we've heard it so many times now! But fear not - we know it's great and that you're going to love it! But we can't work out what track order to choose yet... so I decided to get out of the UK for a few days and am currently enjoying a short break in the sun, well not exactly sun - some sun, some rain and mainly lots of chilly breeze! But it's been a big relief for me to get away from both London and the songs for a few days. :)

We had loads of meetings over the past couple of weeks with all kinds of cool music industry people; it's been great to hear people's thoughts, see their reactions as we play songs and find out which ones they think are singles, the strongest tracks and all that!

I also hung out with my long-term design collaborator Tom Lardner and artist Julie Verhoeven who are both hard at work coming up with ideas for the album art work... and I've been in discussions again with my mate Ben Charles Edwards who is a great new film-maker about possible videos ideas. We were originally going to make a video to a song 'Joy' from my last album but we ended up deciding to wait and to make a few for this new album instead... we already have some great ideas! Ben made a film recently which was screened on MySpace called The Town That Boars Me - it features the acting talents of some of his mates like Kelly Osborne, Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Sadie Frost to name a few... it really caught my eye when I saw it at the Notting Hill Film Festival last year, so I'm excited to collaborate with Ben.

Anyway, I had better get back to my 'holiday'... :)

I'll write soon...

R.xx

"And now, the end is near"

This week has been productive, the album is getting closer and closer to completion. Paul Stroud, who did some of the string and orchestral arrangements on the first Temposhark album, came over. He played trumpet and trombone onto one of the faster tracks, which has added an extra depth... plus we all stood around a stereo microphone set up to sing and scream the chorus! It sounds wicked.

That same day we went over to Simon from The Gadsden's house and ran through the final track for the album, which is a piano and voice track. I've loved The Gadsdens music for well over a year now, and saw them play live last week in London which really lifted my spirits.

I love the way Simon plays piano; he has such a unique way of playing... I can always tell its him as soon as one of their songs starts. It's amazing to be working with him for this song; it's a sad track about a friend that died and the piano arrangment Simon has come up with is perfectly suited.

Sean and I also realised that this new album is a bit more full-on than the first album in many ways, so it's good to have this one at the end to give a sense of space.

Yesterday we returned to Cookham and GOOD NEWS! The first 4 tracks for this album are now finished, we have final mixes! WOOHOO!! They sound beautiful. I'm thrilled... and it's beginning to feel really exciting; at long last we're going to have a new album! I can't wait to share it with you.

Here's a clip from yesterday:

More soon,
R.xx

"I don't think you understand, I'm your biggest fan"

We've had an amazing 3 days in Cookham, mixing at Tufty's. A song a day, and the first three are sounding AMAZING, I'm very very excited... the finish line is getting closer and closer.

Next up is going back to London (tonight) and then singing tomorrow. I have a few more vocals to complete in the coming weeks.

We will have one more song for Tufty to mix and three more for Andy Bradfield to mix! And Sean is mixing the remaining ones. I can't believe we're almost there, album two!!!!!

I can't wait to start sharing clips with you on MySpace............

Here's a little video I shot for you this afternoon, and check out the world's two biggest Temposhark fans at the end of the clip! Plus we've reveal two more song titles from the new album, one is called 'Threads' and the other is the last song we wrote for the album, 'Frames':



More soon.......
R.xxx