the douglas firs records of the year.

this is a rough list in no order. thank you to the musicians who made these great records.
there are no doubt more that i've forgotten, but who cares right?

grooms - rejoicer
vivian girls - everything goes wrong
dragging an ox through water - tropics of phenomenon
grass widow - s/t
caboladies - crowded out memory
wild beasts - two dancers
andrew douglas rothbard - exodusarabesque
julie doiron - i can wonder what you did with your day
mount kimbie - maybes
julianna barwick - florine
telepathe - dance mother
a sunny day in glasgow - ashes maths
polvo - in prism
tanya morgan - brooklynati
phoenix - wolfgang amadeus phoenix

http://www.mediafire.com/file/yzkeugnomwz/bowerysong.mp3

sighed, realising some things are just not meant to finished.

tonight recovered my first album.

boom.

november update.

I haven't really felt like posting on here recently, primarily as I've been questioning the point of a blog. I'm not sure the validity of such a thing, as it is essentially a public airing of the ego. I could quite easily keep a phyical diary, and there be no need to post these updates at all, as surely the point is to keep oneself clear-minded (particularly as I have always said this was the purpose - to keep an eye on progess, to keep it ordered in my head).
I suppose that arguably the internet is ego, what with social network sites and so on, it's all about the promotion of the self. But, we choose how much we want to expose, what picture we want to paint of ourselves.
In one sense, I like the idea of music speaking for itself. But then I guess in some respects I like the idea of there being no barriers between myself and the listener. I enjoy analysing responses to music, and taking away those barriers. It's a fine line, as honesty does not always remedy the problem of aloofness.
I do want to share with people, but I don't want it to interfere with the dissemination of music.
I think the solution is that I will open up a new file sharing account, and record more demos, share more music. Meanwhile, I will keep my words to a minimum. It will be more of a 'sharing' blog - of music, of photos, of artwork, with some small updates as to how the music is going.

Incidentally, the church recordings were a big success. You can never have enough time alone in a space when it comes to recording. I feel what I did in the church entirely reflects how lonely and cold it was in there. My next aim is to create a contrasting ambience - much closer, much more frighteningly close - in your ear, over your shoulder. I would also like to create a warm, communal atmosphere that will conflict with the grander, spacious recordings of the church. This will make up the basis of the second album, which will probably consist of about three sections. My last idea is to record several songs outside.

I have posted a new song on the myspace for now - it featured in the Location Edinburgh exhibition currently on display at the Bowery, Roxburgh Place, Edinburgh. It is a demo of a song that I developed in the church. The theme I was given was "Duddingston" (which I was pleased about) and ties in with some of the themes on the second record.

So I will sign off: this will be the last post of so many words. Thanks for reading, if you have. I'll leave you with some recent images.

new songs on myspace.

hello,
there are some new songs on my profile. these are not 'new' as such, but are new in the sense that very few people have actually heard them. anyway, i'm pleased to let people hear them, as they've been a real labour of love. they are three out of ten songs from the first album (which is still in jeopardy due to technical issues, but will hopefully be recovered). jings.

i'd like to add that none of these songs could be possible without the help of sandy galloway, who has always supported my work and mastered these mixes.

love, the douglas firs.

i don't really see the value in documenting the recording process, so i'm not going to.
however, all i will say is that in a space this large, with the facilities it owns, anything goes. it's very exciting to be allowed to experiment in this church, with some reasonable mics (which have taken a while to get used to). i've been working on about 16 songs - a lot to get through in one month (the time allotted). the results will form the basis of the second album.

photos to follow when i can get one of my faulty phones to work.

unable to sing today, as hayfever is overbearing, have now given up.

written lyrics for three songs in some sort of third person objectivity, second person and third person, respectively: a bit of variation.

why not jump in a river?

whenever creativity is low, take some time out. i did so, and now the fluxes have begun flowing again. finished another song. just 3 x vocal tracks to do and the record is finished. actually: finished. it's such a bizarre feeling.

small update.

started recording around 10 new songs, mostly entirely newly written ones. however, i realized i was getting ahead of myself, and that boredom with various problems with the first record was leading to creating new ones with the tentative second. nonetheless, there are solid thematical foundations to the latter, and i will leave it this week in order to complete old material requiring cessation.

i like how records accumulate memory, in amongst the notes and words: listening to phosphorescent, remembering the bleak winter of 2007.

a natural phenomenon like this is, all at once, is entirely meaningful and utterly meaningless. the only thing that might improve it would be greater empathetic silence. so - silence.

today i was shown around SLPC: potential new recording facilities.

South Leith Parish Church or Kirk is the principal church and congregation in Leith, in Edinburgh, Scotland. Its kirkyard is the burial place for John Home, author of Douglas, and John Pew, the man from whom the author Robert Louis Stevenson reputedly derived the character of Blind Pew in the novel Treasure Island.

The building, which has a long history, began as a chapel dedicated to St Mary originally erected in 1483. The form of worship at the church was changed in 1560 from Roman Catholic to Presbyterian, as a consequence of the Reformation. The church also became the de facto Parish Kirk for South Leith in the same year after Restalrig Kirk, which up until then had served that community, was demolished by order of the newly formed General Assembly. This status for South Leith Parish Kirk was confirmed by Act of Parliament in 1609.

Reconstruction and restoration of the building in 1847-48 included the installation of a magnificent hammerbeam nave roof designed by the architect Thomas Hamilton. The church is a category A listed building.^[1] South Leith Parish Kirk is situated on the Kirkgate in Leith, currently a pedestrian precinct.

...not mentioned here are the pirates buried undernearth the church floors, the English map from the sieges in the 16th century, the metal cap and baton used for defending the graves against potential robbers (similar to Burke and Hare, who didn't actually venture to Leith.. assumedly there were a lot of similar incidences), and so on. An incredible place to record, I'd expect.

witch town.

a great lightning storm pursued, enveloped then retreated.
we sheltered at the scene of the crime at anchor green, engulfed in a deluge.
the great darkness lifted and threw itself out to sea.

more thoughts.

the new album is going to be pretty dark.

and i'm pleased to say that, subsequent to some research all this evening, i have planned the whole thing thematically. ergo, it will involve some historically/thematically relevant locational recording in this region.

less talk, more work.

new record.

just had some of the most bizarre ideas ever for the new album, during a brainstorm in my notepad. i truly hope i make the effort to make them happen.
if so, it could be a completely unique sounding piece of music.

desire for dissonance.

all throughout the recording of this album, i have had in mind to communicate an inexorable, lurking representation of evil. i would have liked the record to have some kind of stasis between the aesthetically melodic, and that which is malevolently menacing. i'm currently in the frame of mind that the whole thing is a stupid failure and i haven't achieved this at all.
i know for certain that the next record will adhere much more strictly to these principles - thematically it is necessary to reflect this balance.
it is much, much harder to achieve dissonance than melody (or at least to get it right), and i feel i've only achieved this partially. nonetheless, i have to stop thinking this way or i will never move on. i've learned a lot through the recording process, so one can only build upon experience.

i had the idea that i would reflect the 'uncanny' nature of dreams and nightmares - the record is more like a waking dream...or a dubious perspective of reality. hopefully this comes across at all on there at some points. what i desire to leave behind with this record is sentimentality.

i'm debating whether to list the influences of this record, reflexively, or just to leave it up to the listener to pick up those references, which i assume would add to the enjoyment of the record. there are a few deliberate references to writers/musicians, which tie together quite neatly...hopefully this will not be seen as plagiarism.

i'm really just thinking out thoughts here. i suppose it is also nice to have some further information on the process (if there was anyone who was actually interested), for when the material is completed.


i tried recording some new demos today, but i just don't have enough equipment/money. everything sounds sickeningly dull and predictable. the aim for the next week is to develop a new method of creation - perhaps recording like i did in the summer of 2003...i recorded several songs a day, and did not think too hard on what they were or whether they were artistically promising. i still have all these on my laptop. some developed into bigger ideas, most didn't.
the aim would be to capture spontaneity, serendipity, and transmute ideas in their purest, freshest form.

decision to update more often, particularly with photos and new songs.

this is my photo of duddingston loch, which i run to often. i only discovered this whole area since moving back to this city, and now spend half my time up there. an owl swooped out at me last week, when the whole hill was shrouded in oppressive, comforting white fog.

meeting a minister in a couple of weeks to discuss recording album in south leith parish church:





















some good shows coming up: grizzly bear, daniel johnston, the pixies (performing my favourite of their albums, doolittle), julie doiron, telepathe.

whole next album is sketched out in a notebook. it's virtually recorded (in my head..)

n.

recent.

last two weeks have been filled with fog, tennis, running, reading, strawberry picking.

tracks sent off for mastering.

the quickening.
future state.
grow old and go home.
soporific.

first album update for the weary.

good progress all round:

finished -
sepulture
the quickening (new mix from one on myspace.com/thedouglasfirs)
soporific
future state
nature and nurture

(very) near finished -
i will kill, again
balance of halves
a military farewell
the shadow line
grow old (and go home)


really not long now. thank god.

listening to - silence, mainly.

optimism.

all problems ironed out - new equipment, back to the capital... old album back at hand and receiving work, new album in process of being begun.

album 1 : recording primarily in the bowery, roxburgh place, edinburgh, using only natural acoustics to fashion the sound.
the main objective of the album is to capture two concordant opposing principles of discord/harmony; the aesthetically pleasing/the ugly; alone/in company.
thematically the album will explore similar ideas.

album 2: a self-contained album recorded entirely at home, exploring ideas of illusion, delusion and false comfort. close-produced and impressionistic, expressing the intangibility of these themes.

over and out.

good: buddy holly, elvis, women, trailer trash tracys, etc.

work.

delivering post - lied to - not 8.30am like they said.
rise at 4.30am.
slipped on ice and hurt hand.

all this, to afford a laptop, to record.

music = atlas sound "logos", ivor cutler "ludo", telepathe "dance mother", creedence "best of", ladyhawke, lucky dragons.