Second Season Syndrome

Much harder day today. I had to get up at 6am to look after my son and I was underpowered all day. Concentration was wavering and we were all a bit distracted. But we still got some good work done. 

First up was 'Diamond Tears' which is pencilled in to close the album at the moment. It was the first song I wrote on the upright piano in my front room. We got it on Freecycle from a Frenchman in Wanstead. As you do. The title and idea came from a picture of me and aforementioned early-rising son. I don't know if he was crying or if his eyes were watering (these toddlers get all manner of crap off the floor in their little eyes) but the tears caught the light on the picture and honestly looked for all the world like a couple of tiny jewels. I thought it was a beautiful image. So I thought I'd try and do justice to the insane totality of people's love for their kids. The song's protagonist is an absentee dad who's away working in another country (I was thinking Polish plasterer, as this is a pretty handy reference point for someone who lives in Walthamstow). His day to day life is miserable, he's constantly drunk and getting into fights, his heart is in bits because he's away from his family (from whom he may or may not be emotionally estranged as well as physically distant) but it's worth it all for him to know that he can send money back to his kids. I like to think of him as a bit of a philosopher poet. And pisshead. 

Next up was 'Hurricane Jane', the album's fastest, bounciest and therefore hardest-to-nail-whilst-knackered track. Although it's rather jaunty and rockets along at 168bpm, the words are rather bleak, comparing the eternity of nature with the brevity of man and so on. That sounds rather more existential in print than it does in the song itself. Although I may wear a beret when I do the vocal. I wrote it on a £12 ukelele, also in my front room (where all the good stuff appears to go on seemingly). 

We finished the day having another go at 'Red', which we're still not sure we've nailed. Confusingly that means it's labelled in orange on the computer, due to Thomas' idiosyncratic but nevertheless failsafe colour scheme. 

I bought a digital camera on the way in the morning. Photos will therefore follow before the weekend is out. Rx