It has been a time of questioning. It has been a period of doubt. There have been black days when I couldn't face thinking about these songs anymore. It got to the point when nothing sounded good. Some of the acoustic versions were making for uncomfortable listening and I couldn't work out why. I then added a piano to 'Jimmy & Jolie' and to my horror found that in parts of the song, the guitar was not in tune at all. I then relistened to the others and thought parts of those have tuning issues as well. It was something I didn't notice when I recorded the songs, but was obvious when adding other tuned instruments.
Before I had found this problem I did give these mixes to two people I respect to see what they thought. Yesterday my sister sent me an email with her thoughts about the songs and was so positive about the project that I was able to see through the fog. She went into great detail about how the words impacted on her and how, although at times dark, the songs were ultimately positive, describing a person's struggle and journey. I also requested the assistance of friend and long time collaborator Martin of The Mekano Set, with regards to arrangements and production and he was equally positive about the project and particularly my vocal performances (something I am always concerned about).
And I reached a new point in the development of the songs: acceptance that we have something really good here and I just need to find the best way forward... and also record the acoustic guitar again on some tracks, now I have changed the strings for a higher gauge and checked the intonation again.
I move on now with renewed vigour . Thank you Deb and Marty - you are my rock.
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