I love St Nicholas church. It’s the church that started all this off, the one which I visited and felt inspired by history, privileged to have so much on my doorstep and started to dwell on the notion that I might join the ranks of those who have made meaningful music in Gloucester throughout its history by contributing to the city’s musical heritage.

I love it’s wonky tower and the history of its origins as the place of worship that visitors to Gloucester via Westgate were first greeted by. It was built in 12th century and became massively popular in the 16th century. It was dedicated to the patron saint of sailors and merchants too and this is a tenuous link to the broad immigration themes in this track. I wanted to ensure that there was honest expression of a relevant political issue sitting uncomfortably amongst the other more cosy themes of the project and it felt like the right topic to wrestle with because Gloucester is a diverse melting pot of ethnicities and nationalities due to its history as an inland port and recent generations of good folk from other countries choosing to make their home here.

I co-wrote this with Josh and Beth who together are known as the electronic duo BAAST. I was aware that Josh is a creative talent in his own right and wanted to provide the opportunity to step out from the recording engineer role, to also involve him as a collaborator so I put it to him that he and Beth might feature as BAAST and I was pleased they accepted. We found common ground because all three of us can trace back to a non-native blood line in less than a couple of generations and we all agreed that immigration would be a suitable political topic to take on.

I had sketched out a piano ostinato influenced by Nils Frahm and some sequences that used some wonderful chamber string samples created by Olafur Arnalds (both two of my favourite artists) that I wanted to include so, after meeting to play around a bit in the studio before the session, I provided Josh with the stems for those parts and provided the brief for him to create a drum part and integrate my parts into some sort of groove for Beth to sing over. Beth had started writing some lyric ideas down and was improvising a tune. The next time we met was to record the track in the church.

Hip-Hop artist Griz-O joined us along with Gaudemus Vocal Consort, a 4 piece choral group led by my friends Vicki and Seb. Griz-O had been provided with a rough version of Josh’s beats from our studio writing session and asked to write bars of verse that he could spit based on our theme of immigration. Beth’s lyrics were dark and angry. I’m not used to expressing myself through anger so I decided to try to counter and juxtapose with my own lyrical efforts. I found it difficult but didn’t want Beth to change her approach so I tried to write a universal blessing and began researching celtic blessings. I found this which I really warmed to:

Deep peace of the running wave to you.

Deep peace of the flowing air to you.

Deep peace of the quiet earth to you.

Deep peace of the shining stars to you.

Deep peace of the infinite peace to you.

It was perfect and I could easily imagine the choral quartet singing it underneath the other parts that Beth and Josh had created. I wrote some melody lines and added some of my own lyrical ideas to do with travellers seeking for and receiving welcome and shelter from a storm, sharing stories, gaining understanding and forging bonds.

On the day I situated the quartet under the bell tower and Josh, Beth and Griz-O set up at the other end of the church by the altar and pulpit. Barney did some terrific work building a narrative sequence with his filming making Griz-O a central character who enters the building and finishes off proceedings preaching from the pulpit; setting things straight like a boss - his lyrics calling out the ignorant bullshit of racism.

Shane observed that the two groups didn’t mingle which was interesting given the threads of rejection and welcome in the material we were creating. The styles of music; modern electronic and rap based forms versus my interpretation of choral tradition are a definite and obvious contrast. The two demographics - the stereotypes; cool self-aware young talent versus university educated middle class older white adults singing soprano, counter tenor, tenor and bass parts also a contrast. Not really talking to each other yet here everyone is expressing feelings we have in common through angry poems, chaotic musical constructs, 4-part choral singing, lyrical offers of reconciliation and welcome in a church with a history of classist hierarchy and pecking order. For me, despite some amusing banter and photographic comedy, the session didn’t have the same easy vibe of all of the others.

For a couple of weeks before the session my buoyant mood had faded and I became pensive and I wasn't sure why. Alone in the studio, following the session, I sorted through the sonic ingredients of this track and I had the prescient feeling that there would have to be compromise and that not everyone would be happy.

I sent my first arrangement out to everyone. Feedback from Josh indicated that he wasn’t happy with what I’d done, that I’d misrepresented his efforts. I had been brutal with his parts so I went back to the studio and refocused my efforts to deeply integrate and be inclusive with what he’d done without putting aside what I wanted to include in the track and came up with the structure and arrangement of the final version. Beth came and sang backing vocals and seemed content with matters. Josh didn’t feedback this time so I phoned him to settle any differences of opinion and to gently state that it had to be my interpretation that is published as it’s my project. All the tracks will be made available as stems for remixers to create their own versions so perhaps there will eventually be a version that is more BAAST than George Moorey. I really hope so. I’d be so pleased to hear it.

I feel grateful that it took 6 harmonious sessions before arriving at one which I struggled with. Many music projects suffer friction from clashes of opinion and ego but so far I had avoided anything like that. This was more a weird dampener on things rather than a clash of opinion or ego. I see now that it’s OK for this track to be uncomfortable, confused, difficult. This small amount of tension has become an asset within the process and actually contributes to the overall outcome.

It was always my intention that the listener should find this track tough to listen to. I've ended up exceptionally proud of it because it was ambitious and ended up something of an epic.

It’s called “Strangers”. It’s confused and far from perfect, but just like the rest of the project I’m glad of the raw bits that prevent it from being polished to a sheen - it shines in all the right places and stays rough revealing the true nature of things. This project is meant to be human in the most honest sense and this track is testament to that aim.

Illustrations(by Georgia Moorey)

Georgia is my first cousin (once removed) - this means she is the daughter of my cousin

Illustrations
(by Georgia Moorey)