BREAK THE DARK

                                                                  Photo Dave Randell 

Hi folks. It’s been a while. I hope you are coping as best you can in these strange times and under this ignominious government. 

As some of you will know I have a new album due for release on the 27th of October. It is called BREAK THE DARK. 

I began this work many years ago, when the Edgar Broughton band finally split up. I sent some instrumental tracks to Steve and Arthur in the hope that something would arise out of them. They were very different from the usual EBB offerings and my attempt at reinvention. Nothing really came of this, but the tracks remained on my computer and occasionally I worked on them. I was writing new songs simultaneously with this and for some months these occupied me completely and those original instrumental tracks were more or less forgotten. 

Occasionally I would play one of them and decide to work on it. I was surprised how easily the first few lines of lyrics or a chorus began to form itself in my mind, and in the pages of my notebooks. At the same time Covid was raging through the world and the UK and I was settling into a pseudo hermit like lifestyle. I didn’t go anywhere. I didn’t see anyone and all of my purchases were online with food and drink being delivered to my home. Although this had its restrictions, I was quite happy most of the time, to get out of my bed and begin to work with my music software where I had last left off. I became locked in to the music and the process of finally making serious strides towards the completion of a new album.

After sometime, I sent some songs to Arthur, my lifelong comrade and bass player. He liked what he heard and began to work on bass parts for the first couple of songs. The process was quite long but allowed for serious consideration of each part as it emerged. Unlike in the studio where money and time is always a consideration we could spend as long as we wanted and be as discerning as we liked about every single note that would eventually form the finished pieces.

Arthur would record his parts on his eight track digital recorder and send them to me so I could edit them and place them into my songs. We spoke on the phone many times during the whole process, but never met up in person. On Twitter, I asked if anyone knew of a cellist who would be willing to work with me. Someone suggested a young man called Calle Arngrip, who was based in Sweden and played cello and rock guitar. I sent him a song called Hymn and at his home he recorded some beautiful cello parts and sent them to me. We made four songs together and he also played guitar on a couple of tracks.  We’ve never met nor even spoken down the wires but did everything by email. Calle is now living in Scotland with his new wife, and I hope that in the New Year we will work together, in a new ensemble on tour, with my son Luke and a couple of other musicians. My son Luke and my good friend Dave Randell came by to record backing vocals.

Years ago, while working at Abbey Road, Studios on our first album a young man called John Leckie was the tape operator. It was one of his first duties in his new job. John later, worked on superchip with the Edgar Broughton band and so we have known him for a very long time. One day Arthur was speaking with him and mentioned that we were working together again. He asked if he could hear what we were doing. Arthur sent him a couple of MP3s. He liked them very much and offered to mix the new songs. John has been responsible for some of the greatest productions in contemporary music for several decades, including Radiohead, Muse, The Verve and many more. So this was a wonderful thing, and something very unexpected.

These new recordings have been a genuine labour of love, something I am very proud of.It’s taken a long time, but I am very pleased with the results. As I write this the final stage of mastering the songs is being undertaken and the graphics and artwork for the Cd case and booklet are also nearing completion.

I will be playing a few live gigs in November and will post them here very soon. There are a great deal of issues and thoughts I would like to post here and I will do so over the coming days but I wanted to touch base and announce the new album.

I am also on X / Twitter       edgar broughton@instantainicus

https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61550306140254

More later. Be happy. Stay safe.

Edgar Broughton