S*T*U*F*F* Reloaded

There’s a faint scratching on the ceiling of our kitchen, and I think it must be mice.

I am up late, trying to gather a few moments of peace and quiet. We had our second baby (Poppy) on 14th June, and ever since, I’ve been up every morning looking after Luka… the days are much longer now, and its quite tough to keep going at this pace, but we’re stepping on through day by day. I just find that by the time the pups are in bed, its late, and I’m wrecked. I just have to wait until that precious time after the shipping forecast when it becomes truly quiet round here… though right now its swelteringly warm and I want to jump in a pool of cool water. If I lived near the sea, that’s what I would do.

So, not long until the release of Sayonara Deadweight now.

Foy Vance came round last week and laid down some funkier than funky backing vocals. The man is just an outrageous talent - what a voice. He must have sculpted 5 or more different tones to just add a lovely layer of richness to the second half of the track and the playout… I can’t wait to do something more with him. We’re planning to record an acoustic version of “Angels In Drag” as a strange duet - my low voice with his high one - to celebrate his discovery of the true spirit of the song.

Another coup - Gerry Murphy has agreed to let me use a beautiful series of photographs of the old Thompson Dock at Harland & Wolff as cover art (well, there is no cover as such, but you know what I mean)… they are amongst my favourite photographs ever, and perfectly personify the spirit of this record… beauty and rust, the lost souls of long-ago-launched ships, the broken magic of Belfast, the deadweight, the fond farewells to hulks of steel and the men that built those ships.

Its just been mastered by Denis Blackham, and I’m building the website… should be ready on time, though some features for the site might have to evolve, as we’re a bit busy over at G-RAFF just now, trying to finish a multitude of projects. Still, as long as folk can download the album and tell me what they think, I’ll be happy enough. I can’t tell you how good it is to know that this album is going out for free - it takes all pressure off, all worry. I’m getting a similar feeling to when I know I’m going to be handing out Christmas presents. I gave my hairdresser a copy today, on CD.

There are definitely mice up there.

If only I wasn’t allergic to cats.

(Strange one, that. We had pedigree Birmans all through my upbringing, and the house was basically a habitable rug of long silky hairs. Then I went to Japan, and came back after a year hideously allergic to cats and kiwi fruit (which up to that point had been my favourite fruit). Must have been the diet, but whatever it was, my first gobbling of 2 whole kiwi fruit left me in a grim condition close to anaphilactic shock. Even a drop of the juice makes my mouth swell up now. Oh well, at least it wasn’t an allergy to wine.)

Right… bed.