Restraint

With the wealth of possibilities opened up by a recording studio, it's become a very real temptation to make the 12 tracks we're going to be laying down overly complex, and/or structured. With a live show that only comprises of three or four instruments at a time, the thought that we can suddenly have 9 playing along at once seems a very sweet one, but it's important to remember that all that really matters is the aesthetics of the piece.

Likewise, some changes, some difficult technical passages and super-high notes that just can't reliably be done in a 'live' environment are now opened up. In some pieces, like Somnesia, this is a breakthrough which means the piece can finally see daylight. In others, it's an ever increasing risk that we'll lose the simplicity that gave the songs their feel, by showing off how clever we can be musically.

Although jazz is, by its very nature, a genre more suited towards the ear of musicians than lay-folk, I'm also trying hard to make sure that (most of) what we record is accessible, and enjoyable for all. There'll be some hidden nuggets which a musician will (hopefully) love, and a gentile will skip over - but it's difficult to make things so that someone without a solid grounding in jazz and musical theory won't just think is simply weird.

One of the pieces I think this hard-earned restraint will really help is a little-known track we're covering, by Jill Tracy, entitled Evil Night Together. She gets real depth in her recording, with wild strings and full piano dominating the piece. We're going for a much more laid back feel, which gives the song an entirely new texture, whilst still staying surprisingly true to the original. Hopefully that one will not only turn out well, but will also sound unique enough to have been worth the effort - because there's no point in simply playing back someone else's composition as it's written...it'll never sound quite as good (with some very rare exceptions).

We've also got a lovely little piece called 'Dreams', which isn't even two minutes long and just has guitar and vocals. Sounds gorgeous and...should be a doddle to record ;)