“The album is about the quest to right wrongs, the search for inner peace, andthe reconnection with the land of my birth.” – Joe Hodgson
While firmly grounded in the rock and blues influences of his youth, Fields of Redemption sees Irish guitarist Joe Hodgson encompass a myriad of musical styles, which he blends and moulds to stunning effect. The result is an almost entirely instrumental album that is insanely diverse and refuses to fit neatly into any musical genre.
Hodgson explains:“You’ll find all my influences in there: rock, blues, jazz, classical, country, and even Irish traditional music. I also recorded two acoustic tracks, which was a first for me.”
Feelings of introspection and soul-searching pervade the record, but it also radiates brighter, less angst-ridden melodic explorations than its predecessor, Apparitions. The inspiration for the album came from an extended journey around his native Ireland with his new wife and his trusty Gibson Les Paul, soaking up the land of his birth.
Hodgson adds:“The album is fundamentally about reconnecting with my roots, reconciling with and embracing the past, while steadfastly looking to the future. It’s also about a journey to find inner peace, which for me is punctuated by laughter and a whole lotta fun. Overall, I think it’s a very uplifting record.”
The album is co-produced by Hodgson and Chris James Ryan (Keith Urban, Go West, The Church), and it features the Austrian rhythm section of Philipp Groyssboeck on drums and Vinzenz Benjamin on bass, both currently members of Go West and Cutting Crew. The nucleus of the band is completed by Otger Garcia on Hammond organ, Kelly O’Donohue on horns, João Paulo Drumond on percussion, and All-Ireland Champion bodhrán player, Paul McClure. Recording sessions took place in Ireland, England, Germany, Canada, the USA, and the Czech Republic.
For Joe, the most memorable recording session took place in Prague with the Czech Philharmonic, who appear on one of the album’s flagship tracks, “You I Think Of”. He describes this as “a spine-tingling moment”. Another highlight comes with the guest appearance of Irish singer Glen Harkin on “Since You Had a Hold on Me”. The album was mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer Will Bowden (Gotye).
Fields Of Redemption is a big-sounding record, but not an over-produced one. It covers a wide range of emotions, moods, and styles, and it takes the listener on an epic journey. It is ambitious and brave, and the frequent twists and turns will keep listeners constantly on their toes. Despite the blending and blurring of musical genres, Fields of Redemption has a truly cohesive feel to it, and it is an album that is meant to be listened to from start to finish.
Read my feature-length interview with Joe Hodgson here
About Joe Hodgson:
Guitarist Joe Hodgson hails from the village of Ballymagorry in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. His music, shaped by his upbringing during The Troubles, mirrors the fierce rain and winds of the Emerald Isle. It is both sweeping and intense, boldly blending rock, blues, jazz, and Irish traditions into finely crafted instrumentals, which reveal a multifaceted, emotive, and diverse performer.
After many years of playing and recording with London-based bands and touring throughout Europe, Joe returned to his birthplace in 2018. In 2020, he released his debut solo album Apparitions to wide critical acclaim. Guitar World called his playing “elite”. Prominent Canadian music journalist Steve Newton said he is “the best guitarist you’ve never heard of”. ANR Factory, meanwhile, described the album as “a modern-day masterpiece”.
On June 20th, 2025, Hodgson is set to release his second solo album, Fields of Redemption, an almost entirely instrumental collection of tunes which, in typical style, straddles, blends and bends musical genres. The album also features a guest appearance by Irish singer Glen Harkin. Three singles from the album have been released to date, garnering glowing reviews.
Guitarist, Joe Hodgson, hails from the village of Ballymagorry in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. His music, shaped by his upbringing during The Troubles, mirrors the fierce rain and winds of the Emerald Isle. I catch up with Joe to talk about his musical heroes, his solo career and the release of his new solo album, Fields of Redemption, which comes out on June 20th.
For my first question, let’s go right back to the beginning. When did you first pick up a guitar?
I picked up the first guitar after my cousins in Dublin played me some Rory Gallagher, you know? I think it was the Stage Struck album, which was him at his most rocky and stuff. And then I just was totally sold on the guitar. And then I actually got tickets to see Rory Gallagher and I was just totally blown away. And from that moment on, it’s all I ever wanted to do, you know?
Was that your first concert then, Rory Gallagher?
No, my first gig I ever went to was Thin Lizzy, I think on the Renegade tour.
That tour was my first gig as well, how weird!
Yeah, I saw them in Dublin and yeah, they were great, you know. Snowy White was with them at the time. It was brilliant. But it was definitely Rory Gallagher who was the was my main reason for playing guitar. And then after it became Gary Moore – when I first heard him. Those two were my biggest influences. Two Irish guys just coincidentally.
Two iconic and very expressive guitar players, so obviously some of that has embedded itself in you from an early age.
Oh God, yeah. I was out for a few beers last night with my wife, and the guy put on Rory Gallagher on the video screen. And he was absolutely incredible. Amazing showmanship. He never messed up. He never got out of tune, never out of time. Raw. And that was amazing, you know. Brilliant.
If you want to talk about sort of the music that’s influenced me when I was growing up… as I say, Rory, and then Gary was definitely my biggest single ever. I’d say he was one of the greatest players of all time. But I was also into – and I still listen to – all the older, the English guys. Like, obviously, Eric Clapton’s a huge influence on me. Jimmy Page, Jeff Beck, Peter Green. Those four are still, to this day… you don’t get any better than them! And I still go back and listen to Clapton and Beck quite regularly, you know?
But in the ‘80s, ‘90s, I was heavily influenced by all the American players, you know. Van Halen, Randy Rhoads and Jake E. Lee and all those great players. But I was also into other music. Stuff like ELO and some quite melodic music, which probably has helped define me. Melodically, it’s given me that sense, I like to think, that my influence isn’t just from the hard rock. It’s from that kind of more pop rock as well. Fleetwood Mac and stuff like that. I love listening to that.
I think that’s something that really shines through in your own music.
So, from those early days, you went on to play in a number of bands. That was over in England. Did you want to tell us about that?
Well, it was a catalogue of almost-made-it type bands, you know. The band I suppose that came closest to cracking it was a band called Rime. At the time we released an album back in the mid-2000s. And we were about to be signed up by a major promoter in America. And at the last minute, just as the CDs had been printed, the singer walked out of the band. A French guy. It was unbelievable luck, you know? And we replaced him, but it was never the same when you replace a singer. The guy in this booking agency in America, he loved the singer, you know? So, when you replace the singer, it’s always difficult.
But I was in lots of different bands over there. And the last band I was in before I left was a band called Good Guy Dies. I was with a female singer from Latvia, and we did some BBC stuff. BBC Radio Kent and local stuff in and around London. And we toured all over the country but, again, that was a weird one because my background is Thin Lizzy, Rory Gallagher, Gary Moore, Led Zeppelin, all that. And her background was Tori Amos, Bjork. So, I thought it was a good idea to try and mix these, but it was like trying to mix oil and water, you know? So, it didn’t work in the end, I don’t think, musically. But I enjoyed playing that stuff and experimenting, you know?
And then you relocated back to Northern Ireland and released your debut solo album a few years later. Was that a conscious decision to move back to Ireland and launch a solo career, or did it just happen in the way sometimes things happen in life?
Yeah, the reason I came back here was that band Good Guy Dies broke up and I just wanted to get away from London for a while. Then my mum was diagnosed with motor neurone disease. So, I ended up back here and I nursed her in the last year of her life. She died here at home. I had no intention whatsoever of coming back here permanently but as the days went on, I thought I kind of like it here, you know. People talk to you here. It’s not like London, you know, and you go for a pint and people are going, “Hey Joe, how are you man? How you doing?” So, I felt just right at home again after a while. You couldn’t pay me now to go back to London, you know! I’m quite happy here.
Brilliant. I’m sorry to hear about your mum though. Although something very creative and very positive came out of a family tragedy.
Absolutely. It was always my dream to come back. This room where I’m in now, you can see all my guitars and stuff there. This is the room I learned to play guitar in. And I always had this sort of dream to come back here and record a solo album in this room which is what I did. I recorded all the guitars in here.
So yeah, it was always in the back of my mind to do something like this, you know, the solo stuff. I just found I really enjoyed the creative freedom. And I self-financed it all myself so there’s nobody breathing down my neck saying, “You shouldn’t be doing that.” I can experiment as much as I like. So that’s probably why you see quite a lot of different styles on the album. Because I’m the boss here of this little organisation, you know, and it’s really liberating. If I want to play a blues track, I’ll play a blues track, if I want to play a jazzy track, if I want to play some harder rock, I’ll do it, you know?
Yeah, those different styles certainly come out on the new album, and I know that’s been commented on in reviews.So, what do you want to tell us about the album Fields of Redemption that comes out on June the 20th?
Well, as I say, it’s very varied. It’s not like, say – and I’m not knocking them because I actually really like them – but you buy an Oasis album, you know what every track’s going to be. You know what it’s going to sound like before you even play it all. It’s great. But for me, that sort of approach is very limiting. So, I just wanted to be able to play whatever style I wanted at any given time, you know.
But also, the difference between this album and the last album was I got a co-producer on this album. A guy called Chris James Ryan. He’s Australian. He lives in Canada and he mixed Apparitions (Joe’s first solo album). That’s how I met him. But this time I wanted to widen the sound a bit and use orchestral elements and I wanted to bring in brass. And he was a great help with that. Communicating with these musicians along with me, you know? And we really went to town a bit more on the production this time – went really deep into getting the sounds right.
And, as I say, the guitars were recorded here in Northern Ireland, but the rest of it, like the drums and bass, were recorded in England. There were these two Austrian guys, Philipp Groyssboeck and Vinzenz Benjamin. And then I had musicians dotted all over the world. Like the horns were recorded in Germany by this Australian guy. I had a Brazilian percussionist. He was in Salvador. He recorded percussion over there.
Then one of the highlights for me was working with a guy called Paul McClure, who’s a bodhran player, the Irish drum. He was an ex-All-Ireland champion and he was phenomenal to work with. I did a couple of acoustic tracks. He’s on those, which is a first for me. I’ve never recorded an acoustic track from start to finish and I did two on this album so that was different.
It’s something I’m happy that I did, you know. Happy that I went so wide with the spectrum. But I would like to think that my guitar is the unifying factor, which brings it from start to finish and kind of makes sense of it, you know?
Oh yeah, absolutely. Your guitar shines throughout and your personality through that, I think. That’s definitely the unifying factor, isn’t it?
Yeah, and I also got to work with a singer who I’ve wanted to work with for a long time. A guy called Glen Harkin, who you heard on ‘Since You Had a Hold On Me’. Glen’s amazing. He’s probably the best male vocalist I’ve ever worked with, you know. You just turn on the mic, he was standing there behind me and I just let him open his mouth and sing. I’d say that track was done, his singing part in an hour, hour and a half.
His voice is perfect for that track. But as we say, it’s a mainly instrumental album. And I think with a lot of instrumental albums, they’re good at capturing abstract moods, but yours is actually telling stories, which I think is really, really fascinating. The music actually tells a story once you know the title. That’s quite a feat.
I’m really pleased you picked up on that because even though there’s maybe no words on the track, the tracks do mean things to me, you know? And there’s one track, that’s the very last track on the album. It’s the acoustic track, ‘The Ballad of Joe Clarke’. That’s quite a special track to me because it’s dedicated to a friend of mine who sadly died last year. And he was the person that brought me down to see Thin Lizzy in Dublin, you know? And he was a huge inspiration to me, because he played in local bands and he was a bit older than me, so I looked up to him. And I wanted to do this for him and his wife, Helena. That track means something to me, you know?
So finally, what next after this current album is released?
Next? Well, I would love to be able to tour this, you know, but it’s very, very difficult to do that with instrumental music. But if someone like a Robin Ford or a Joe Bonamassa said they want a support act. Yeah, count me in!
But looking further down the line with myself and Chris, we’ve already talked about the next album. And we actually want to go and do it in Nashville because he’s got quite a few contacts over there. Because you get these players in Nashville and they’re just unbelievable, you know. Probably do the ten songs, we’ll get the backing tracks done in a couple of days and then come back and work on the guitar. But that’s going to be a fair bit down the line, as I say, because all this is self-financed. So, it takes a while to get it together but that’s the next plan recording-wise.
“The best guitarist you’ve never heard of” “a brilliantly adventurous player, right up there with the likes of Satriani and Vai” – Steve Newton, Ear Of Newt
After a four-year hiatus, spent travelling, writing and recording, Irish guitarist Joe Hodgson returned to the scene in March 2025 with a double A-side instrumental offering, ‘The Grass Is Greener’ and ‘Shapeshifting’. This was followed in May by another double single, ‘Since You Had A Hold On Me’ featuring Glen Harkin on vocals, and the instrumental ‘Stick Or Twist’.
The third single of 2025, an instrumental ballad titled ‘You I Think Of’, is released on Friday 6th June and features a guest appearance by the world-renowned Czech Philharmonic Orchestra.
Hodgson explains the origins of the track:
‘In early 2021, I was working on an acoustic arrangement of the Irish folk song, “Molly Malone”. It’s the unofficial anthem of Dublin City, one of my favourite places in the world. While I was working on the track, I started envisaging this story in my head of meeting and falling in love with a woman from Dublin. As the story gathered pace in my mind, I started playing melodies of my own over the same underlying chord sequence, and before I realised I had a complete piece of music composed. It had a beginning, a middle, and, thanks to the Molly Malone refrain, an end too’.
To fully complement the melodies of the new song, Joe decided to use strings, and he approached the Czech Philharmonic. He describes the resulting recording session in Prague as ‘a spine-tingling moment; the most memorable of the whole album’. But the story didn’t finish there. Joe did, in fact, meet his fantasy woman from Dublin, and in July 2022, they married. Most poignantly of all, though, she walked up the aisle to the string arrangement of ‘You I Think Of’.
The music itself is indeed a love story, and the track overflows with poignant melodies and hooks. Stylistically, Hodgson’s playing is a mixture of delicacy and intricacy, as his blues, jazz and rock-infused runs freely roam and colour the track. In combination with the orchestral strings, the purity of the guitar sound gives a lush and distinctly dream-like quality to the music. This track, taken from his forthcoming album, Fields Of Redemption, captures feelings of introspection, hope and inner peace, and comes from a guitar player who is certainly not afraid to expand his sound and take chances in pursuit of his art.
About Joe Hodgson:
Guitarist Joe Hodgson hails from the village of Ballymagorry in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. His music, shaped by his upbringing during The Troubles, mirrors the fierce rain and winds of the Emerald Isle. It is both sweeping and intense, boldly blending rock, blues, jazz, and Irish traditions into finely crafted instrumentals, which reveal a multifaceted, emotive, and diverse performer.
After many years of playing and recording with London-based bands and touring throughout Europe, Joe returned to his birthplace in 2018. In 2020, he released his debut solo album “Apparitions” to wide critical acclaim. Guitar World called his playing “elite”. Prominent Canadian music journalist Steve Newton said he is “the best guitarist you’ve never heard of”. While ANR Factory described the album as “a modern-day masterpiece”.
On June 20th, 2025, Hodgson is set to release his second solo album, Fields Of Redemption.
“The best guitarist you’ve never heard of” “a brilliantly adventurous player, right up there with the likes of Satriani and Vai” – Steve Newton, Ear Of Newt
After a four-year hiatus, spent travelling, writing and recording, Irish guitarist Joe Hodgson returned to the scene in March 2025 with a double A-side instrumental offering, “The Grass Is Greener” and “Shapeshifting”.
The follow-up, another double single, marks a departure from Hodgson’s customary all-instrumental fanfares and features Irish vocalist Glen Harkin on the smoky bar room blues song “Since You Had A Hold On Me”. This is coupled with “Stick Or Twist”, a hard-hitting, in-your-face instrumental rocker which flirts with funk and soul, as Hodgson continues to straddle and blend musical genres with the introduction of brass to his sound.
Joe, whose playing has been described as ‘elite’ by Guitar World magazine says, “Since You Had A Hold On Me” is about the realisation that a relationship has not only run its course but that your partner no longer controls you’. We see the gravel-voiced Harkin remembering the good times but determined to walk out that door all the same. The blues is the perfect medium to express this, and while Hodgson’s mantra, ’words can lie, but my guitar can’t’, initially appears like a contradiction, the inclusion of vocals poignantly emphasises that love is often peppered with half-truths and downright lies. The track begins and ends with aching lead guitar lines, as Hodgson puts his undeniable stamp on the music.
The second track on this double single, the raucous instrumental “Stick Or Twist”, could be viewed as a precursor to the blues track. Hodgson explains, ‘This track is inspired by the moments of uncertainty and the -Will I? Won’t I?- experiences we all encounter’. The restless, edgy nature of the music underlines the unease that underpins its meaning, as Hodgson shifts pace and guitar styles through the many twists and turns of the song.
These tracks, taken from his forthcoming album, “Fields Of Redemption”, capture feelings of introspection, pain, hope and joy, and they come from a guitar player who is certainly not afraid to take chances in pursuit of his art.
About Joe Hodgson:
Guitarist Joe Hodgson hails from the village of Ballymagorry in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. His music, shaped by his upbringing during The Troubles, mirrors the fierce rain and winds of the Emerald Isle. It is both sweeping and intense, boldly blending rock, blues, jazz, and Irish traditions into finely crafted instrumentals, which reveal a multifaceted, emotive, and diverse performer.
After many years of playing and recording with London-based bands and touring throughout Europe, Joe returned to his birthplace in 2018. In 2020, he released his debut solo album “Apparitions” to wide critical acclaim. Guitar World called his playing “elite”. Prominent Canadian music journalist Steve Newton said he is “the best guitarist you’ve never heard of”. While ANR Factory described the album as “a modern-day masterpiece”.
On June 20th, 2025, Hodgson is set to release his second solo album, “Fields Of Redemption”. As a forerunner to this, he released a double A-side single in March, comprising “The Grass Is Greener” and “Shapeshifting”, which garnered glowing press reviews.
The follow-up, which drops on Friday 9th May, is another double offering: “Since You Had A Hold On Me”, featuring Irish vocalist Glen Harkin, and the instrumental “Stick Or Twist”.
Guitarist Joe Hodgson hails from the village of Ballymagorry in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. His music, shaped by his upbringing during The Troubles, mirrors the fierce rain and winds of the Emerald Isle. It is both sweeping and intense, boldly blending rock, blues, jazz, and Irish traditions into finely crafted instrumentals, which reveal a multi-facetted, emotive, and diverse performer.
After many years playing and recording with London-based bands and touring throughout Europe, Joe returned to his birthplace in 2018. In 2020, he released his debut solo album Apparitions to widespread critical acclaim. Guitar World called his playing “elite”. Prominent Canadian music journalist Steve Newton said he is “the best guitarist you’ve never heard of”. While ANR Factory described the album as “a modern-day masterpiece”.
In June this year, Hodgson is set to release his second solo album, Fields Of Redemption, which will be preceded by a series of singles. The first, a double A-side, comprising‘The Grass Is Greener’ and ‘Shapeshifting’ will be out on 28th March. The tracks vibrantly straddle and blend musical genres, as Joe’s mantra of “words can lie, but my guitar can’t” sees him draw the listener into a world where his instrument does the talking for him.
From the rock, blues, jazz, and Indian-tinged ‘The Grass Is Greener’ to ‘Shapeshifting’, with its forays into baroque melodies, jazz, Irish jigs, rock and roll, and Thin Lizzy-inspired harmonies, the listener is taken on a journey through eclectic soundscapes by a multi-dimensional, intense, and passionate musician.
Joe Hodgson: “The Grass Is Greener” is the story of the twists and turns we all experience in the search for inner peace and happiness, while Shapeshifting explores the chameleon that is in all of us.”
These tracks capture feelings of introspection, hope and joy, and they come from a guitar player who is certainly not afraid to take chances in the pursuit of his art.
‘The Grass is Greener’ / ‘Shapeshifting’ released 28 March 2025
Always Seeking is the eagerly-anticipated second album from guitarist and singer songwriter, Jake Aaron. It follows his highly-acclaimed 2019 debut, Fag Ash and Beer, which drew many enthusiastic reviews. Always Seeking was released on digital formats on 17th May 2023 and is also available on CD from 7th June. Having interviewed Jake back in 2019 following the release of his debut album, I catch up with him again to find out more about the latest one.
It’s been four years since your debut album Fag Ash & Beer which attracted some extremely favourable reviews. When did you begin working on the follow-up?
Some of the music goes back a long time, a few years in some cases. I had chords without a melody, words without songs, songs without words, but an Americana album of some sort seemed to be taking shape for a while. The actual process of bringing it all together and finishing it off probably spanned two or three years.
Was this a different process to writing the previous album?
It was pretty different, yes. With the first album, only three tracks were recorded live. I started mainly with solo acoustic pieces and the players coloured some of them in with overdubs. With Always Seeking eight of the tracks were recorded live so it probably has more band energy.
How would you describe Always Seeking as an album?
I loosely imagined a noir Western, and something with a moving landscape, scenes and moods. As far as the theme goes, I suppose like a lot of people, I’m prone to follow mirages and over romanticise the future and the past.
Like its predecessor the album crosses a number of genres and takes in a range of influences. It’s obviously important to you not to be boxed in, musically?
I’ve absorbed a lot of music over the years and like lots of different music so it would be hard to stick with just one sound. As I’m an independent artist too and not very commercial, I’m pretty free to record what interests me. It’s not like a major label is locking me up till I’ve written my next hit.
Some genres probably aren’t that far removed from each other anyway especially folk, rock, and blues. John Renbourn and Davy Graham were often crossing over naturally to classical and jazzy sounds. Or, thinking of George Harrison and Robby Basho who played some sitar, into Indian Raga. Maybe it’s partly due to the instrument – guitarists can pick up a classical guitar, an electric guitar, sitar or banjo, or use different tunings and sound very different. I mean if I played the bagpipes I’d be a bit more stuck stylistically.
The album features a number of the musicians who played on your first album. Clearly, you enjoyed working with them, first time around?
Totally! Steve Lodder on keyboards again, Davide Mantovani on bass, Marc Parnell drums, Steve Waterman on trumpet and Kenny Jones engineering. They’re fantastic to work with. I think they’re a good choice too because some of my music is off-beat and, as jazzers, they’re completely unfazed.
The only track I was unsure about asking them to play, was the rockier track ‘Gotta Believe’ and they were free to opt out of that one if they wanted. Marc’s response was: “Jazz players are fine playing rock, it’s rock players who won’t play jazz!” It’s true, listen to them!
You’ve also got a couple of other guests on the album, John Etheridge on several tracks and Kate Kurdyak on a couple of tracks. How did they get involved?
The character in the album artwork and music turned out to be female so it seemed to call out for a female singer. It took a long time to find the right singer till I remembered a song I really liked in 2021 – ‘Dose Me Up’ by a Canadian band Vox Rea. Kate has a beautiful voice. I had to wait a while till she got back from touring but it was worth it and I’m really glad she got involved in the album. Vox Rea recently made it onto BBC Radio 2 with their track “Julia”, so very possibly we’ll be hearing more of them.
Lupe – Always Seeking, Jake Aaron
I’ve known John a little for a few years ever since bumping into him on the tube and sharing a tube journey with him. I’d just seen him playing with John Williams at Ronnie Scott’s, and in Nottingham too, so had quite a bit to chat about the music and the shows. It so happens John also plays with Steve and were working together on some jazz versions of The Kinks which I heard when I was working on the album. It had some stunning lead guitar. Three of the tracks on “Always Seeking” needed some lead guitar and I wasn’t about to follow Steve’s solo in The Revenant – so one thing led to another and John seemed to like the pieces. John’s two solos on The Revenant are just brilliant which is partly why the track is so long! I couldn’t find anywhere to fade it. It’s a very joyous listen, very melodic, very unrushed.
The artist Anthony Macbain produced a very striking image for the album cover, full of old-style western film imagery. Did you have a clear idea of what you wanted from the outset?
Anthony’s art is fantastic and adds a whole new dimension to the music. We had some shared musical interests too which probably helped including – you’ll be very pleased to know – Iron Maiden. I sent Anthony a rough, badly drawn sketch of a rider on a ridge looking over clouds, with a guitar and rifle. Anthony took the idea and transformed it. His first sketch was of a female rider looking at the viewer. It was so good I asked him to finish it though we felt the image of the rider in the distance worked better for the album cover. The original image is now in the CD as a fold-out poster and looks terrific. It was a real surprise when I received the first copy.
What next for Jake Aaron?
I’m looking into pressing some vinyl for Always Seeking, depending on the level of interest. The feedback about the artwork and line up is so good it would be good to see it on vinyl – it might be something someone picks up in a second hand shop one day and asks what the hell was that? I had that experience a lot when I used to trawl second hand record shops. I’ve emailed a record shop in London who haven’t got back yet, so if there are any vinyl shops reading give us a shout!
Vinyl seems to be making a huge resurgence. One of my tracks was picked up by a vinyl “mixtape” club in the US, Vinyl Moon, who produce really beautiful vinyl each month with original music and artwork that piqued my interest too. Jared Sylvia designed the volume that my track’s on.
(Update: since the interview Jake has now achieved his ambition of releasing the album on vinyl – you can order it here!)
Musically I’ve got quite a lot of stuff simmering in the pot, some lyrics, chords, a few melodies, song titles. So I guess there could be a single or two, an EP and another album at some point. I’m more interested than I used to be in reworking earlier tracks these days. Sometimes you can only take a track so far at the time and then run out of time, skill or imagination and then a few years later pick it up again – you might have evolved a bit musically and can do more with it.
I did think the other day if I write more material I can do a Best Of some day which would be a great thing – it would immediately improve the overall standard of the album with a massive edit!
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