I remember the session in the tower clearly. It was the 2nd session of the project. It was bitterly cold that evening, but there were a couple of industrial air heaters in the space which we were fortunate to be permitted to use. Switching them on and off between takes proved to be essential!
I began assembling the team with Luke the drummer in mind. I also imagined JPDL being the ideal person to collaborate with - to tell the story of Æthelflæd as a rap. I didn't want the track to be an out and out hip-hop piece though. I play a lot of acoustic guitar so wanted to blend a touch of folk into the mix - it would be experimental and perhaps have some jazz and techno ingredients too. Before long I'd made a list of people I knew and had enjoyed working with and got to work assembling. The tower proved to have a great acoustic quality for recording drum kit. I definitely will use it in future for drums.
Everyone pulled together for this session. I had provided an idea of the groove and a chord structure in a demo to the team, but, like all the other sessions, it was the first time everyone had come together. I was also the only one that had an overall idea of how the track might sound when finished. I trusted that all the musicians I had asked were either confident to improvise and have me edit or pick apart their ideas on the day or I had met with them individually to make sure they felt prepared. It wasn't easy, there were a few technical hitches with the audio recording and the space was small which confounded Barney our film-maker at first, but once the gremlins were resolved we gained momentum and recorded the session by layering each part starting with the drums being played to my demo.
Something very special happened with this track. A virtuous circle of inspiration between myself, JPDL and the project artist Eloise. I had mentioned to Eloise that the 2nd track would be based on the historic theme of Æthelflæd and she had just finished painting an iconic painting for her own purposes and shared it online. I was so impressed I asked her if she could do something in a similar style based on the historic figure Æthelflæd. Æthelflæd's unique place in Anglo Saxon history as a strong female leader really appealed to Eloise. Meanwhile I had asked JPDL to write verse for the track and he had supplied me with a draft of his lyrics which I showed Eloise. She was immediately excited and inspired. She has incorporated choice parts of his verse around the edge of the canvas. When JPDL saw the painting for the first time he was so impressed he enquired about buying it.
Æthelflæd being a source of inspiration and creativity in Gloucester has taken on a 2nd life. 2018 marked the 1100 year since her death and she is buried somewhere on the site of St Oswald's Priory ruins in Gloucester. On June 9th and 10th JPDL, Madeleine and I performed this track as a stripped down version at St Oswald's Priory on the burial site of her remains over a 1000 years later framed by two enlarged 3m wide prints of Eloise's Æthelflæd's face either side. That's pretty special and stirs up quite a surreal feeling if I think about it too much! The track was released early to coincide with the 1100 years celebratory events Gloucester held.
Eloise's image was displayed all over the city including as a 5m scaffolding mesh on the Cathedral estate, outside the Gloucester Guildhall as a 1.8m tall poster and Eloise herself processed with a banner of her own image of Æthelflæd prior to the communion service at the Cathedral to mark 1100 years since her passing.
Æthelflæd being a source of inspiration and creativity in Gloucester has taken on a 2nd life. 2018 marked the 1100 year since her death and she is buried somewhere on the site of St Oswald's Priory ruins in Gloucester. On June 9th and 10th JPDL, Madeleine and I performed this track as a stripped down version at St Oswald's Priory on the burial site of her remains over a 1000 years later framed by two enlarged 3m wide prints of Eloise's Æthelflæd's face either side. That's pretty special and stirs up quite a surreal feeling if I think about it too much! The track was released early to coincide with the 1100 years celebratory events Gloucester held.
Eloise's image was displayed all over the city including as a 5m scaffolding mesh on the Cathedral estate, outside the Gloucester Guildhall as a 1.8m tall poster and Eloise herself processed with a banner of her own image of Æthelflæd prior to the communion service at the Cathedral to mark 1100 years since her passing.