Chapter 62: The Goodbye EP

Dear Diary,



Yes, I have been very silent.



For which I apologise. You might remember I mentioned something about an album, ‘Joy & Jealousy’? My first solo project, of all-traditional songs ‘n’ tunes? It took about a year and a half to make, and the album was unleashed on a vulnerable public on 21st September, at the Old Fire Station Theatre in the centre of Oxford. More on that in a bit…



And since the launch, if I’m honest, I’ve basically been slouched on the sofa watching telly.



Actually, that’s not true at all. It just feels like that when I look at my mountainous To Do List, featuring ‘Now you need to promote the damn thing’ plus ‘All the other shit you should have got done over the last 1.5 years’.



Just building up to releasing the album it felt like I was proofing sleeve notes while being interviewed on the radio while opening the door with my toes. And I felt ON IT. I felt like I was getting so much work done. In the vacuum after the urgency of the launch… it’s just been hard to get back into the groove.



But I have been getting there.



I mean… I’ve just made another album!

03GoodbyeEP

Actually, it was an album I had already done most of the work on, and had nearly finished just before I started Joy & Jealousy. It’s a mini-album really; an E.P. In fact, it’s the third of a 3 part collection of EPs which I’ve taken to calling ‘The Debut EPs’. They’re all basically collections of some of my old songs, with a few new ones thrown in, assembled according to very basic themes.



The Wilderness EP

The Magic EP

And finally… The Goodbye EP



I’ve been meaning to get these finished for years. The first one was released in 2009, and the second in 2010. Then I spent two years concentrating almost exclusively on the trad stuff, trying to make a band work that in the end sadly just didn’t. And then, since March 2012, the plan became to finish these 3 EPs, and this one big epic trad album, so I can then actually promote them all together in a relatively professional way.



And, with the release today of The Goodbye EP, I’ve finally done it.



It is a pretty big deal for me actually. About 5 years in the making. Now I feel I can relax, and stop recording music all the time, and just get on with life.



But I can’t, of course, because I’m me.



Anyway, here is the Goodbye EP:




And then tomorrow, it’s all about Joy & Jealousy.

Leave a Reply