New album completed

News at last. If you've read my previous post you'll be aware that I completely scrapped an almost finished album a couple of weeks ago. Luckily, some of it was salvageable. For the last 2 weeks I've been re-making the album from scratch, taking it in a very different direction and making something worth hearing. Working title Absentia has become Absent Son. Over the next few hours I'll be doing some editing to the recordings and it will be uploaded to the online stores by tomorrow morning.

In the meantime, I've upoaded a video to youtube with the earliest demos for Trinity to give you an idea how the album developed. You can find it here: Trinity Slideshow.

Thanks for reading,

Barnaby J. Tremayne.

PS Happy new year everyone.

High Fidelity

I just finished watching High Fidelity. Even though it was only made 10 years ago, it's become sort of time capsule of a way of life that just doesn't exist anymore. Do obsessives still spend years searching out a rarity? That single that only four people bought when it was new? The Japanese issue of an album that no one else liked in the first place? Of course we do, we're obsessives, but now we just google it and look around various websites til we find it then download it for free. But double clicking on an mp3 just isn't the same as placing that slab of vinyl on the turntable. And does anyone make mixtapes anymore? The delicate art of conveying your thoughts and feelings with another person's lyrics and music. Then filling out the (always too small) insert, writing each letter carefully in your best handwriting and trying not to make any mistakes.

I got to thinking that working in an indie record store would be the perfect job for me. Then I realised that there aren't any indie record stores anymore. Now we all just set up our own stalls online and sell just one artist. Usually ourselves. Like this or this (yes I know it's self publicity but who else is going to advertise them?) The real indies just faded away, leaving a hole in the high street that HMV can never quite fill. It's just not the same.

Maybe we obsessives need to find a new obsession.

Barnaby J. Tremayne.