SKY SEA & STONE

For some of you who have been following the progress of this album, it is something you will finally be able to listen on any streaming service of your choice!

I am grateful for your support and every bit humbled and ecstatic that you are finally listening to this album.

I think the initial audio sketches of this album started in April of 2022, as a summer sun was slowly breaking through a long winter haze. Summer evenings are long and I spent my evenings practicing and messing around with gear and musical ideas. Of course there are hours probably days and weeks worth of jams that did not make the final cut, but that is what the machinery churns behind the scenes. These are the finer bits anyway.

I refined these tracks over summer, and to be honest each successive track seemed to flow from the previous one. Sometimes you will notice that maybe there are motifs and musical ideas and phrasing that might be recurring throughout the album. Although, I have tried to keep each track as a separate musical idea, I am certain that there is a discernible common aesthetic overall.

Which, leads me nicely in, to a brief summary of each track name and its function and individual purpose in the overall context of the album

‘F i l u m’ refers to a filament or fibre, a thread of sorts. The initial idea for the track name was derived from a photograph of an Edison filament bulb that I noticed at a friend’s terrace. It made me think of how light is emitted from a tiny thread inside a vacuum. This in a way was the spark, and also nicely becomes the connecting ‘thread’ for the entire album to follow.

‘W r e n’ is about a curiously shy bird which I spotted rarely (and mostly heard) on some of my walks and hikes around the Irish coastline. They are notoriously difficult to see and have this ‘check’ or ‘churr’ call which is impossible to locate with accuracy. In some ways I was chasing this sound but the source was invisible.

It just signifies to me, something that is present everywhere but difficult to put a finger on, but it is always living and existing, just beyond our reach. Something fleeting and transitory.

‘K n u f u n k’ is a nod to my jams with my earlier band(s) and my bandmates. As far as I can remember, we have always liked to experiment with groove and I have been lucky to have been influenced by some greatly talented folks. I wouldn’t have any music in me without them and those jams.

‘K ō u n’ is a track that was written in a slightly chaotic time of this year as I was dealing with changes and thus, many unknowns. I think I was also heading for the dreaded creative block. The thought behind this track is that, sometimes it's appropriate to loosen control and let things evolve and shape themselves. Kōun means luck and good fortune in Japanese. Also, pulling off guitar solo ‘right’ actually takes quite a bit of luck sometimes! 😂

‘U n r e s t’ is the final track of the album. Steady and slow and churning this is one of my favourites. This track is a continuation of ‘K o u n’ and it adds a layer of deep texture to it. It's inspired heavily by a poem by Edgar Allan Poe titled ‘The Valley of Unrest'. Its a dark and fascinating poem and I recommend anyone to give it a read to be immediately transported to a different realm.

In summary, this album began with a thin and delicate thread of thought, a slight sense of being present. Through all the push and pull of the various facets of creative flow and its challenges, this abstract sense of singularity provided grounding and clarity, illuminating gradually, the way forward. It helped orient and steered silently towards a destination. As with every journey, there were points of rest, recollection and awareness. The tracks that you will hear are those waypoints of simultaneous repose and restlessness. And the Sky, Sea and Stone hold the eternal map, the guides, serving always as perpetual landmarks.

I hope you all have a wonderful experience listening to it. Throw it in the background, pin it to the foreground, whichever works for you. Most of the tracks are jam format which means they are how I would imagine a live band jamming out. Thats the way I like it best.

I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed making it. Cheers! ✌🏼

If you would like to support my music here's a purchase link to this digital album.