News Archives.

Innersense is by far the most personal album I've ever written. It's also without doubt my best-selling release - it probably sells as well as all of my other albums combined! So if you haven't already heard it, why not pop over to the Innersense page where you can listen to some sound samples and, if you like what you hear, buy the album. You can also see what others have said about the music, by reading the reviews and comments you'll find there. Enjoy!

Anyway, dead musical things have been replaced with live musical things (much to the dismay of my ever-dwindling bank balance - well, who needs to eat, anyway?), and in 2013 there will be music. Lots and lots of music. 2013 is the year in which you will see re-issues of both Elysian Fields and Shadow of the Wind, both with bonus tracks. It will also see a re-press of Innersense, although this one won't have any bonus material - nothing could possibly be added to that one, because 'it is what it is'. It still remains my most personal album to date. As such, this one will simply be slightly remastered to boost overall levels a little, so those who have already bought it won't be missing a great deal!

2013 will also see the release of my new album Mystic, which has been a long time in the making not only because of the technological issues mentioned above, but also because of other commitments and my head not being in the right place to compose it. If you liked Innersense, you'll most likely enjoy this one too. It's another highly emotive and orchestral one, but with a touch of fantasy and magic thrown in for good measure.

As if this isn't enough, I'm busy working on a huge (and I do mean huge) library of production music for film, TV and game usage. There will probably be several album's worth of music by the end of the year, and it will be an ongoing project to which I will continually be adding new pieces.

Collaborations will also be a distinct possibility in 2013. It's almost certain that Jon Richards and I will be working together at some point (which is great, as he's such a lovely and talented bloke!) There are also plans to collaborate with AD Music boss David Wright and Prog Rock artist Lee Saunders (which again, is great, as they're such lovely and talented blokes as well!)

So, as you can see, there will be a fair amount of tunes emanating from a small room in Derbyshire this year. I will of course be aided by my cat (who did actually come up with a melody once by walking on my synth - I won't say which track he inspired with that, but it is one of my better selling ones!) and my dog (who loves the orchestral stuff I compose, but hates anything with an analogue sound and leaves the room when he hears it - I may have the world's only anti-moog dog!)

Have a fabulous year, you lot - and heartfelt thanks as ever for your support. :)

What I didn't know until recently was the Elysian Fields is also going to be given the re-issue treatment! Again, there will be a bonus track included on the re-issue. At present I'm not sure which of two tracks to include, but again, the new one - whichever I decide upon - will be with AD Music before Christmas so that this album can be released early next year too.

Add this to the fact that Mystic is now well underway and also due for release next year (my head simply hasn't been in the right place to work on it much this year, plus I've had a load of library and production music to do) and as you can see, 2013 is promising to be a really exciting time - both for myself, and for the lovely folk who continue to support my music.

More news and audio clips very, very soon!

Thankfully, all of those things and more eventually had a happy ending, but needless to say, not a lot of music has been composed during the last few weeks. Hopefully that will be changing soon however, if only because writing music has always been pretty much the only way I can ever vent my emotions and get any residual angst out of my system!

On a brighter note, there may well be a couple of nice announcements on this page next month. Watch this space. :)

I'm kind of known for changing my mind about music at the last minute and trashing entire tracks without warning, so it probably comes as no surprise to anyone that 'Adagio in Blue' is now *not* going to appear on the forthcoming compilation album by AD Music. The problem with it was that it started off really well, even by my own uber-critical standards... and then just kind of faltered, because I had no idea how to end it. I could have worked on it until it sounded right, and still will at some point; however, for this album something else cropped up.

One night last week I snatched a couple of hours's sleep - a real rarity for me. During that time, I apparently got up and recorded a complete piano melody. Amazing when music appears to you in dreams isn't it? I can't remember doing that at all! When I woke up the next morning, I listened back to it with a mixture of unease (am I sleep-writing now?) and cautious excitement (because it had the makings of something really melodic). A couple of days later, I knew it was the right track for AD's album, which incidentally will be called 'After Midnight'. You can hear a snippet of my finished track below:

And She Held The Moon (Excerpt)

When I originally sat down to write something for this compilation album, I came up with a track that was somewhat dancey. It was OK. Not one of my best works, but not one of my worst either. I called it 'Skyrider', and I was just about to mix it and send it off to AD Music for their consideration when I started humming a completely different melody for no reason at all.

As is the case with almost all of my melodies, I had no idea where it came from - but I knew that I had to do something with it. I also knew that I liked it better than 'Skyrider', even though at that stage it was only an 8-bar idea. The goosebumps never lie!

After a few tweaks and changes, I realised that it could be the one thing I'd been looking for to finish off another track I've been fiddling with for a while. Called 'Adagio in Blue', this one is most definitely *not* dancey. This one is something that the imaginary members of the little symphony orchestra that plays inside my head most of the time relished getting stuck into.

Whether or not they did a good job is not my place to say - as ever, that's for you to decide, dearest listeners. And you'll be able to do that in the next week or so, when I'll be uploading a snippet for you.

Finally, AD Music recently completed their excellent Film and TV showreel. It contains some incredible music by several of the artists on the label, and I'm really pleased that one of my tracks ('A Breath Away') has been chosen to sit amongst all of that melodic loveliness. Enjoy!

In other news, Innersense is at number 1 in AD Music's digital download chart with my other three solo albums all in the top ten as well. It's odd - I sell loads more digitally than I do physical CDs. I used to be dead against digital downloads for all kinds of reasons, but have since had to change my way of thinking seeing as they now make up the largest part of my income! Oh digital downloads, how I adore you. You lovely, lovely things, you!