"Roxy Music played back at the wrong speed"

I wonder if anyone reads this...

The vocal recording I was intending on completing this month has been postponed until my throat starts working again, struck down as I have been by some kind of sinus/throat infection.

I've been reading Austin Osman Spare's ecstatic, near-delirious writings from his "Book Of Pleasure"... actually maybe it's me who's delirious... too much sudafed and co-codamol and vodka... I've also just started to read "After The Quake" by Haruki Murakami which is possibliy one of the best things I've read in years.

Creative energies have been poured into lyric writing (more about that in a future post) ... and a seemingly directionless process of sound collection and manipulation rather than straight-forward songwriting.. As a result, there is now a load of new stuff up on various websites by my silly little side-project, Sweetie plus various sonic "bits" swimming in or around some of the new LH recordings.

Generally though, what with various live shows being cancelled, two biggish support slots falling through, illness (on my part and Maria's) and a couple of other boring things.. this month has been a bit... "non" .... know what I mean?

This hibernation period will be over soon though, as necessary as it was. .. . soon enough we shall be staring at the beautiful debris, wondering if the earthquake really was our fault...

A happy new year and very best wishes to everyone,
With love,

Dan
x

"it's a long trip. we are the only riders"

My apologies for the lack of updates. Work on the album was put on hold for a few weeks during October.
We've been busy putting together an evening of live music, which will happen next week at The Hoxton Square Bar. There's a thread on the forum (in the "shows" section) with more info. Please come along and say hello!

So. The album. It is always the "honeymoon" stage of a new project which sails by with ease. Starting something often requires a certain kind of discipline, and then you throw yourself into it all guns blazing... but if at any point you become distracted or if "real life" suddenly gets in the way.. then, re-starting requires a great deal more discipline.

But re-start we have. Tentatively at least. Maria and I were (with varying degrees of success) recording guitar parts last week, and this week I have been attempting to record some vocals.

Despite one day of non-starters and over-emotional self criticism, I believe I'm beginning to relax a little more when it comes to recording my voice.

I would try to descibe how this album sounds but that would be somewhat futile. And besides, it could all change tomorrow anyway. All I can say is that it's "more". More loud, more quiet. More happy, more sad. Everything and nothing pushing out from the centre in all directions. More personal, more generalised. More song-based, more atonal.

And now I can't think of anything to type.

don't shutup yet

Flashes of white light in the eyes, high-pitched backwards sounds in brain. Sleep deprivation, Pierre Schaeffer, and depressing country songs are all coming back to haunt me...

More recording this week...

Mic stand parasite attack.

Since last week we've pieced together basic backing tracks for three of the new songs.

It's incredibly refreshing to be working on a record without actually thinking too much. Instinct seems to be taking over in a kind of slow-motion version of how it does when we play live. It's still early days for this record, but I think it's going to be the most "organic" thing we've done yet. Both in terms of the way the music sounds, and lyrically too. It all "feels" right in a way I can't adequately explain in words.

Myself, Maria and Robert were in the studio again last night. Things seem to be flowing along nicely. We got some drum tracks down for three more of the new songs. We ate fancy crisps. I got bitten on the hand by a microphone stand. "Oh god, it's laying its eggs inside your hand!" said Robert. So far so good.

In case anyone's wondering - we haven't forgotten about the 'On Sectional Pad' single. It will be coming out. At some point.

Begins

Hello sweethearts.

Last week, we (Leisur Hive) began work our new album. The follow-up to '3 Ton Edition' which we released last November.

And so I have decided to start this as an online diary to document the whole process - We are feeling pregnant with ideas and this time we felt it would be an interesting experiment to drag some of you lot down with us!

If I've done this right, you should be able to leave comments. One of us will endeavour to respond, but then again we might not.

Anyway. I hope you enjoy reading this slightly pointless insight into our working practises. There will be less procrastination this time (hopefully!)