Hey,
so my album is out very soon. I thought it might be nice to let you guys know a bit about each track.
Bears
This is the title track of the album. Its really big
and powerful and I think makes a great statement at the start of the album.
Musically and lyrically it kind of represents the rest of the album too -
positive and personal. Its about chasing your goals, whatever they might
be.
Come Back Home Tonight
This is going to be the first single off the album, and
it's massively fun to play live. It was one of those that we really struggled
with in the studio and then suddenly just turned itself around in an afternoon
and became an obvious choice for a single. Its about obsession and unrequited
friendship.
Fire Fire
This only made it on to the album at the last moment. It's
an old single that I thought I'd grown tired of. We had some line-up changes in
the band and it became really fun to play live again, and then I couldn't
imagine not having it in the set or people getting to hear it, so we put it
back on the album.
Sticker, Star and Tape
This is the song that started everything really, the first
song I wrote that was like the songs I write now, and not so acoustic-based.
This song is lyrically just a series of in-jokes between me and friends that
are impossible to explain. It's about not rushing yourself into falling in love
or finding someone to be with. You can't just magically create those feelings.
Annie, Why Are You So Angry?
This is one of my favourite songs on the album. We recorded
a demo version of this for the last EP and it went down as a raw version -
everyone had one take. When we came to record it again we sped it up and cut
out some sections. We added some synths and backing vocals that really changed
the character of the song, and I'm really proud with how its turned out. I
think it's musically one of the most forward-thinking songs on the album for
me.
Sideways
This has been my most well known song to date, so it was
difficult to take into the studio again as there have already been two versions
that my fans know quite well. We tried to put some new parts on it, but in the
end decided to record a straight ahead version of the song in its current form.
Hopefully it will just sound bigger and better than the last version which was
recorded in my bedroom. The song is about the passage of time as you're growing
up. You constantly get into situations you think will last for ever but in a
couple of years you find yourself as a completely different person with a
different life.
Berlin
This song was in competition with another song called
"A Cinematic Low" to go on to the album. We decided to put it on
because I had unfinished business with it in terms of the instrumentation. The
new version of Berlin
has lush strings and horn parts, and I wrote some new vocals for the outro. Its
a really old song about missing friends that you've made but had to move away
from. The new vocals at the end kind of brought the whole thing up to date and
brought some closure too.
I Traded My Friends For You
This is a straight up hundred-miles-an-hour love song about
how people leave their friends behind when they fall in love with someone.”
Carbon Dating
This is a crowd favourite that we always play at the end of
our live sets. It feels quite old musically and this may be the last time I
write a song like this. Its a coming-of-age song about getting over an ex.
Calendar
I wrote this song when I was in South Africa, its the newest song
on the album. Its influenced by bands like Tellison and its about looking to
the future. The time signature change at the end is one of my favourite moments
on the album.
What Good Did That Do?
This is the oldest song on the album, I wrote it all the
way back at the end of 2005. I decided to put it on the album because its a
song that I've ignored for ages despite it being very strong. Its a really sad
song about breaking up with someone that you love. We put some amazing strings
and piano and guitars on it, and I think its really beautiful now.
Apple Tree
This was originally going to be the first song on the album,
but ended up going at the end. Musically, I'm really proud of the outro as it
was really difficult to make the instrumental sound as big as we wanted. The
song is about looking forward to the future that I have with the person I love.
Its a good note to end on.
I hope you've enjoyed reading.
Sam
xx