It all seemed so normal today here in Texas. It was hot, somewhere in the nineties, but if you’ve spent any time in Texas you will know that it can change quite quickly and today it did. It started raining early evening and the raindrops sounded like solid lumps of dough hitting the roof rather than simple water falling from the sky. But then the rain got heavier, the wind came, and the dough turned into ice that smashed against the roof and the door of the studio. We were trapped inside with the lights fluctuating and soon thereafter the death of the internet, meaning that aspects of the computer programmes were no longer working, and consequently we were no longer able to record. We were done for the night, losing at least three hours of studio time on sessioneer Rajan’s project.

We stayed inside tinkling on instruments and talking, occasionally opening the door to see the deluge and the hailstones bouncing off the metal table in the garden with loud clangs. The trees were waving in the sky, birds were frantically looking for shelter and for an hour or more, we waited. Eventually, it all calmed down with repeating short flurries, but then the thunder and lightning disappeared into the distance as the aftermath revealed the damage.

We slunk out into the street to see large branches of trees down, miraculously missing Sarah’s and a resident’s car from the house next to the studio, branches falling in between them both. As we furtively stepped out onto the driveway and onto the street we could see others examining the roofs of their houses, another man trying to clear debris out of the road and the man next door in his green dressing gown and slippers assessing the situation (it’s the first time I’ve ever seen him in the months of being here). Across the road, the whole block was out of power, not the case on our side. You saw the beams of torches appear opposite, shining upwards as one man tried to determine the cost, whether it be financial or simply time-consuming.

Somehow Thai Thai the restaurant we regularly order from was still up and running, and we had food within 45 minutes of the chaos. After we had eaten, we hung on a little later before ‘calling it’ at 10.30 for an earlier-than-usual night. When Sarah dropped us off where we are staying, you’d never know anything had happened, little debris, the alleyway hardly wet and inside the electricity on and the internet working. The storm had gone and by tomorrow beyond the cleanup you’d never know it happened except for the armies of gardeners that will be out returning the neighbourhood to its usual trimmed and preened demeanour.

Music today has been John and Beverley Martyn’s Stormbringer! (1970). The first of two albums released under both their names, the other being The Road to Ruin, released in the same year.

Music Of The Daze