Sunday, oh no, not another Sunday, thankfully I’m in the studio all day and won’t have to cut through the Sunday air, wander the frozen neighbourhoods, frequent cafes bulging with breakfasteers or feel the anxiety of the last day off before the Monday morning blues.

Sunday never feels like a day of rest to me, it’s the day when I’m most impatient for the week to start. As if it matters to me in my line of work what the actual day is and I often lose track. The weekend is the best time to be buried in the studio, Tuesday the best night to go out.

Today is trumpet day and Evan came in and played on three tracks, taking one to Milesland and two others to Pawn Hearts (VdGG ref.) We have a super lazy, slow, sleepy, jazzy, drifty track that sounds like therapy where everyone chills and are only shaken back into reality when the song finishes. Oh no, the real world! Music as drug. Earlier we were recording Brian’s guitars and later Olivia’s violins and as we come close to the end of this first period in the second Valley of Salt album, we’ll be back in January but we’d better get the first one out first.

The Gretsch arrived today, allegedly used but actually new, a gorgeous ocean blue and the price of one night out in London. It plays nicely and has some extra power in the pick-ups, it’s not the classic sixties feel of the Gretsch I played on the Arktik Lake project but it is $19,689 cheaper. A fine addition to the armoury, a style of guitar that I don’t have, and often play on projects, Arktik Lake and Blueburst being but two that come to mind.

I also picked up an Ibanez UE405 multi-effects, which I need for my US sessions, generally they have a foot pedal but this one has convenient switching for knocking the effects in and out. It looks a little like it’s been dragged through a swamp but it’s the sound I’m after, not the look.