Category: The Caravan of Dreams

I’m back in the studio next week with Carl Rosamond mixing and mastering “With one finger you can block out the sun” This is the first recording with Jed Bevington and Fergus Quill. These guys have played together for years and bring some great new musical ideas to the recording sessions. It’s an absolute pleasure to be working with them

Agi adds vocals to the track and as usual, does a brilliant job. I have never come across anyone who has such precision with vocals and harmonization. Both her and the guys are terrific to work with and with Carl Rosamond and guest musicians we truly have the dream team. I have been working with Carl for a number of years and this will be the 35th track we have recorded.

Sometimes new tracks appear out of the blue and begged to be recorded. This is a perfect example of this happening as the track was written in an hour and then worked up in the first rehearsal. Jed and Fergus added some great duo parts in the studio which really make this track pop. The Caravan of Dreams material is increasingly different from anything I have written and recorded previously. I’m writing on the ukulele, but increasingly the material is not ukulele based and for the first time on some tracks I am not actually playing any instruments, rather focussing on vocals. The material is initially worked up on piano with Agi in our weekly meetings.

My inspiration for the lyrics comes from Dylan’s “Blood on the tracks” and Nick Cave’s recent work. A lot of the tracks are about human relationships and interactions. I think it’s my best work to date and I’m taking my time on making sure we get the best possible results. We already have 12 tracks in the can and more planned for future recording this year. 

Jed Bevington and Fergus Quill from The Caravan of Dreams warming up to record “With one finger you can block out the sun” for the debut album “Tales of Dark & Light” due for release in 2019

This has been a fascinating few weeks. A new song “With one finger, you can block out the sun” is now on route to being recorded. We have worked it up with “The Caravan of Dreams” ensemble and last week I went into the studio to lay down the rhythm part and my vocals. In ten days time Agi, Jed Bevington, Fergus Quill, Chris Smith and I add the additional parts. This is very different sonic territory to anything I have written and recorded to date.

I’m also starting to use a lot of the technology in my own studio and the excellent Sony MV1 cameras to record rehearsals. The sketches from some of these rehearsals can then grow into fully formed songs. “With one finger” the song was written really quickly and the band immediately brought some great ideas to the track. This is musical collaboration at its best, where something really fascinating begins to emerge in ways none of us expected. We will soon have a dozen tracks for the album and the inspiration for new songs keeps coming.

Today we are working up a new track “With one finger you can block out the sun” which we will be recording in two week’s time in the studio. This is probably the fastest piece of writing ever in my history of writing 36 original songs to date. Literally twenty minutes before the last rehearsal I found a really great melody on my guitarelle and quickly sketched out a couple of verses to fit. Amazingly the verses didn’t require editing as I was totally happy with the content. The only addition was two additional verses for Agi to sing before the first two verses are repeated with us singing in unison. 

This is a slow haunting song and Fergus Quill and Jed Bevington added a truly excellent violin and bowed bass introduction. I loved it so much I e-mailed everyone saying “STOP THE PRESS, WE’RE RECORDING THIS NEXT!” This is one of these magical moments when a new song literally appears out of thin air. Agi and I have been working up the vocals in recent weeks and next Friday I’ll lay down a guide track before the full band goes into the studio in 10 days time.  The forthcoming “Tales of Dark and Light” is scheduled for release early 2019 and at present I have 12 tracks in mind for this. The material is quite diverse from a full-on barnstorming “Grey Skies” with eight musicians to some really stripped down tracks with me, Agi and two musicians. The challenge will be working out the running order for the live set and the album so everything works dynamically.

This is by far my most ambitious work to date and we are doing a lot of rehearsals to make sure we get the best possible results. We usually schedule two hours for rehearsal time and focus of 4 – 5 songs. This is an exciting project and of course, I continue to play with The Small Change Diaries as well who headline Inkwell for a charity gig, early July. Life is never dull! 

 

I first heard John Burr’s playing when attending a gig from “The Colour of Light” who supported “The Small Change Diaries” I was blown away by his harmonica playing and immediately thought of him as a guest artist on “Tales of Dark and Light”. I made immediate contact and we agreed to meet up today in the studio to work on two tracks.

When I first saw John I was also amazed by his collection of harmonicas. I had never seen so many and he brought his harmonica box to the studio along with a great old school Fender amp. He also brought a bunch of mics, which to me is the sign of a musician prepared for any situation.

 

I had two tracks in mind for John to add harmonica – “Grey Skies” and “The other me” On the day we decided that “Grey Skies” would be perfect, but “He’s shooting blanks” would be a better second track.

“Grey Skies” is the most complex track I have recorded to date. It reminds me of something that might appear on the first Doors album, which in my opinion is no bad thing. The track has myself and Agi sharing vocals, Chris Smith on Hammond keys, Phil Doleman on banjo and lap steel, Rich Ferdi on percussion, Dave Bowie on double bass, Laurent Zeller on violin and now John Burr on harmonica. This is a real barnstormer of a track and our producer will have his work cut in in the mixing and mastering. At this point in time, I’m thinking of it as the opening track for “Tales of Dark and Light” We left some space in the last minute of the track in the play out to respond to Phil Doleman’s lap steel in a call and response arrangement. John also added a great harmonica rhythm that works really well with the keyboard part. As usual we do a number of takes and then select what works best. We are truly spoiled for choice with so many excellent takes.

The second track is “He’s shooting blanks” which is the first track I wrote for “Tales of Dark and Light”

This track is dark even by man standards with a chorus refrain

“He’s shooting blanks, she’s shooting cops”

John added a wonderfully soulful harmonica to the track, which fits perfectly with the feel. Unlike “Grey Skies” where we used the Fender amp and a bullet mic, here we simply had the harmonica going into a vocal mic.

In total we spent three hours in the studio and these two tracks sound superb with these new parts. John is a brilliant player with a great ear for what works best and terrific sense of rhythm. I already have him in mind for another track I’m currently working on with Agi.

Tales of Dark and Light will be released early 2019 

 

This last week I have been recruiting musicians for The Caravan of Dreams ahead of scheduled live gigs and an album launch in 2019. This is working out remarkably well and we now have a great double bassist and a violin player for live work. Of course my “go too studio guys” will be the terrific Laurent Zeller and David Bowie or Adrian Knowles, but the additional musicians mean that I have massively more options. John Burr will also be joining the studio session musicians to add harmonica.

I feel truly blessed to have some great musicians with so much enthusiasm involved in this initiative. My other band The Small Change Diaries will continue to gig and I also massive enjoy playing that material which is different to the Tales of Dark and Light  songs. I have learned that a key part of creating good music is organizing time and I have never spent so much time rehearsing and playing. I’m especially loving working with Agi and Laurent on these new songs and Rich Ferdi, Adrian and Dave Bowie have done a great job in the studio. 

We just finished the first rehearsal for “The Caravan of Dreams” working as a trio, Agi, Fergus Quill and myself. We focused on four key songs off “Tales of Dark and Light” – “Here in the Silence”, “The Other me”, “Say what you’re thinking” and “The Pink Moon” I have never played and sung these tracks simultaneously, so this was a new experience, especially as today there’s just two instruments. 

Its always great to play with new musicians and especially ones who bring new ideas to the table. I have realized in recent times that although I love the ukulele for writing, its IMO far more interesting when combined with other instruments. Simply hearing endless solo ukulele artists after a while is to me (many will disagree and that’s fine) really not that interesting. However when combined with double bass and other instruments like piano and violin, the possibilities are endless. 

The Caravan of Dreams will rehearse every few weeks ahead of playing some low key live gigs later this year. We are looking at tailoring the material to a simple trio as well as a more expanded group of musicians, The key is to ensure that the songs get to breathe properly. Its a fascinating process, hearing these songs take shape in a live context. Nobody has heard any of this material and as I have said before its quite different to anything I have done previously. 

 

This week, Laurent Zeller, Agi, Chris Smith and I were in the studio laying down more tracks for “Tales of Dark and Light” We put down all Agis vocal parts on Tuesday along with keyboard parts for “Grey Skies” and “Open up”. On Wednesday we added Laurent’s violin parts. I’m totally blown away by the standard of playing on this new album, its quite extraordinary. Its also a very different to anything else I have worked on to date. One of the main differences is that we are working up all the vocal parts and the melodies from the ground up, on the piano. Once these are locked down, we then sort which instruments we use and subsequent arrangements. 

I[‘m spending a lot more time on this project that anything else to date and the plan is to release the album in 2019. Nick Cody and The Caravan of Dreams is a very different musical outlet and I’m currently auditioning musicians for live opportunities to be announced later this year.  This is proving to be a wonderful creative journey and its truly inspiring to hear these tracks emerge. As suggested by the title “Tales of Dark and Light” many of the tracks are stories about different human interactions. There’s a big dynamic range with these tracks and its far more diverse that anything else I have recorded. Both Laurent and Agi are central to the Caravan of Dreams sound and its an absolute joy to work with such talented professionals. 

This is the third album I have recorded and I’m learning to surround myself with the very best musicians and studio engineers. Carl Rosamond has done a brilliant job producing and the mastered tracks sound absolutely amazing. I remain fascinated by the whole writing and recording process and I’m really proud of what we have achieved to date.