Giving Birth

is a bit like making a new album. Well, I’m not having morning sickness, haven’t had to buy maternity wear, don’t get a seat on the tube, and haven’t at the moment got lactating mammaries, but there are bits of it that are a lot like pregnancy… There’s a fair amount of anxiety early on, not knowing how it will turn out, will everything be ok, will something go horribly wrong… early scans are a bit formless and lacking in definition – you can see a bit of a blob, and as time goes on it starts to riggle a bit, but it’ll be a while yet before you start to feel it inside you.

But when you do, and you get that feeling that things are going to be OK, you start planning. For babies, you decorate and think of names. For albums, you design the artwork and come up with a title and track names. the more you know about the forthcoming arrival, the more you are able to shape such things ahead of time. Is it a boy or a girl? Is it a mellow album or an up-tempo jolly album? etc. etc.

Well, my new album is taking shape, tracks are being added to the ‘definite’ list, the artwork is progressing, the title is at the ‘I think this is right, but we’ll wait and see’ stage, and I’m making final decisions about whether or not to have any special guests on the album (at the moment it looks like there’ll be one for one track… more on that at a later date).

Every now and then I flick across to another window on this computer and have a look at the proposed front cover. Does it work? I try to catch myself by surprise and see if I’m pleasantly surprised or not.

I love this process. As I said a few days ago, I’m slightly apprehensive due to how much I love Grace And Gratitude, but these tracks are taking on their own identity, such that I’ll be able to play quite a few of them on the upcoming gigs (yet more reasons not to miss the gigs!)