It’s the last day of August, I believe that means Autumn Soon then Winter Splinter Bay. After 6 months of not leaving the town I’m hoping for a light at the end of the tunnel, that long dark tunnel, that never seems to end, it’s like driving through Norway where the tunnels can be twenty-five miles long, you know there’s an end but the longer you are in there the more the anxiety builds. What I find difficult is the range of people’s opinions about it all, it’s nothing, it’s dangerous, it’s not dangerous, be careful, you don’t need to be careful, it’s fake, there’s thousands of people dying, it’s like the flu, it’s not like the flu, the number of deaths is like any year, the number of deaths is much higher than other years, masks in the shops but not in the pubs. So many messages, I don’t care who’s right and who’s wrong, I just can’t stand the guessing and committing to the answer that suits you. Can’t we just get it all into perspective? It’s either an overreaction or an underreaction and for some reason, people are taking sides. The reason, politicians have made the people either not trust them at all or support them whatever they say. It’s mad. Dear world, leave me alone, go away, come back when you are being fair and rational.

In my little world down here in Penzance, the day started with going to the bakery earlier on this August bank holiday Monday because Amy told me it was closing at 2.30PM, an hour earlier than usual, I got there and Wendy told me I was too late and they had already thrown my pasty away because they closed at 2PM. Deary me, things were going so well in pasty land. I went to the Co-op and bought a pre-packaged one, not quite the same quality. But it gave me an excuse to be outside longer on what seemed to be a beautiful day, a day I couldn’t take advantage of because I had to work in the archive getting ready for Noel’s visit on Thursday with the eight boxes of donated records from his friend Norman who sadly passed away in recent years. So that’s what I did, dug in, sorted out as much as I could in the short time I had. It makes such a difference when it’s tidy and organised.

I had a pending visit at 6PM from fan Stephen who was on holiday in Penzance with his family. He’d been to the gig Olivia and I did in London at the Betsey Trotwood last year. He came down with his daughter Megan and I showed them the archive and the studio. We all had a good chat and I signed some CDs. It’s nice to show people the archive and the studio, the place we’ve made all the recent records. After they left I continued with the task at hand. Olivia did the washing and suddenly it was dinnertime. We ate over an episode of Humans on Netflix and then carried on until 10PM when we had a surprise zoom call with New York. It was our friend Jeanne’s birthday and this was a surprise for her, a load of friends in different locations wishing her Happy Birthday, nice!

Then it was time to listen to the Salim tracks he’s sent me but the link didn’t work (it worked the other day). He just sent me new artwork so I’ve asked him to send it to me again and I’m waiting to hear back so I can listen to these EP tracks. The EP is coming out on September 9th, the same day as we will release a song from the new MOAT album. Will keep you posted.

Record Store Day Drops happened over the weekend, not sure how it went as I wasn’t able to get to a shop. My release this year is a red vinyl Nightjar but not until the September Record Store Day Drops although it seems that some copies have got out early in Australia, thanks for getting it and getting it earlier too, it wasn’t supposed to be that way but it will sound the same whatever the month. I’m still hoping to get the Cradle album (the Quatro sisters), the Groundhogs album (Split) and the Exit North album (coloured vinyl) and possibly Mellow Candle, we’ll see, I don’t want to pay twice the price that they were supposed to be on the day.

Music today has had me finally approaching the newer records I’ve recently bought but because I don’t know them yet it’s hard to say much about them. So all I can do is draw your attention to them and give you first impressions, like “great” and “really good” and “cool”. So the first album I opened up was the collaboration between Phoebe Bridgers and Conor Oberst, a band that they’ve called Better Oblivion Community Center (American spelling) released in 2019. I’m a Phoebe Bridgers fan and like Oberst too (Bright Eyes) and first impressions of this album were “great” and “really good” and “cool”. Haha. I played it twice and I like the atmosphere a lot and the lyrics and will be playing it again soon.

I followed it with Phoebe Bridgers’ latest album Punisher (2020) which I also played twice and it was…ok, I’m not going to say it! I’m a fan of her voice, her words, she has sensuality about her, a fragility, there’s something very thoughtful about her records and I’m looking forward to getting to know this one better. I have the first one, Stranger In The Alps (2017). I liked it so much that I bought it first on CD and then had to have a vinyl copy too.

Next is Laura Marling’s new album, Song For Our Daughter (2020), here we go. If she’d been around in the early seventies, she’d be a legend by now. Her beautiful voice, sophisticated songs, stories and feelings from the inside expressed so succinctly. I’m just on the second listen but this first track Alexandra is really lovely. At the age of 30, she has already released 7 solo albums plus the LUMP album collaboration. The wonderful thing about her not being around in the early seventies is we have decades left to appreciate her, if only I did. The second track sounds like Bread, yes Bread. “Great” and “really good” and “cool”. Sorry.

Well, one Laura Marling album simply isn’t enough, so I’m going back to her second album, I Speak Because I Can, released in 2010. This was the album for which she won the Brit Award for British Solo Artist. So please investigate her, I can’t tell you any more, I have to go and find a place to sleep because tomorrow is the first swimming day in 6 months and for me, it’s an early rise. Enjoy.

Songs Of The Daze

So as Dylan Thomas got married in the building next door, Better Oblivion Community Center’s Dylan Thomas might just be the track:

 
Phoebe Bridgers has this odd long video for the last track on her album, I Know The End. It sounds like the last track on an album, more enjoyable if you’ve heard the other tracks first:

 
Laura Marling – Song For Our Daughter short film: