Space used to be such an exciting place, full of promise and wonder, where the baddies were largely confined to science fiction. Now it’s become the location of dread and destruction with a narrative of ‘defence’ – no aggression to be seen here of course – that’s all down to the baddies.
Philip Roddis
Great sound, Bryan – keep ’em coming
Bryan
Thankyou so much Phil for your continuing support and encouragement, it is much appreciated.
We too were pleased with the overall sound, mix etc , but it’s a strange one – certainly not one of our more cheerful numbers! They say that great art requires no explanation – so I have no qualms in providing a bit of a back story.
This piece started life as a science fiction musical backdrop (Space, the final frontier etc) which we quickly decided had to be subverted. Steals from Bowie and Jonathon King followed and then came the lyrics (always problematic) …… The original lyrics attempted comedy (‘Space between my ears, stumbling through the years’ etc) and then geopolitics crept in – and once ‘in’ somewhat took over, balanced we hoped by a protest chant. We couldn’t resist bookending the piece with Regan and Trump – and then it was done.
So engrossed had we been in the process that it wasn’t until the final mix that we began to realise how dark a piece this had turned out to be and wondered whether we should release it to an already over anxious world. However, we didn’t want to waste the work we’d done – and there is plenty of darkness in the world at the moment … so release it we did.
On reflection I, as lyricist, did not appreciate how challenging it is to write a song about serious political issues where it’s difficult to include nuance and provide a cogent narrative. This one sort of wrote itself and I won’t be rushing to repeat the experience!
Next song in the pipeline is about ‘bluebells!’
Bryan
By email and uploaded with permission:
Just listened to ‘Space the final numptia’
I love it – the lyrics are a great balance of terrifying and absurd – ‘blowing us away to the doo doo’, ‘rods from the gods’ , ‘everyone gone la lu lu’ .. strong messages of the absurdness but also of the powerfulness of these people. And the lyrical ‘in the night of day’ … different meanings of space .. the play on major bomb …
The music is great too – the interweaving of sirens and speeches with the beat and repetition of protest slogan .. the lovely intervals of piano where we are blown away .. !
It’s just fab !!!!! Well done !!! Xx
Xxxxx