New Album - Final Mix!

Band focussed on frequencies while I’m seeing if I can de-age myself with an iPhone.

Hi folks, Tim here again

Hope you’re all well and navigating life stuff and world events in ways that work for you.  Sorry it’s been a minute since you’ve had any album-making updates from us, but I’ll set that right for you now.

I’m sat here at my kitchen table in Denmark in mid-February, looking out over a neighbouring forest of very tall, very bare trees, a bit glazed-over having taken in John’s excellent mixes of our new album – the one you’ve all so generously supported the making of. I will say open-heartedly that I think it’s our very best by quite some way, and corny as it sounds, I cannot WAIT for you all to hear it.

I won’t give away much just yet – but suffice it to say that musically it’s our most adventurous and expansive sonically, and very focussed songwriting has emerged from those initial improvisations we made in April last year.

John has wrought magic with lyrics and melodies that speak to me very personally. His words suggest that there’s great comfort to be found in the very fabric of our lives and in the journey we’re all on, in these often deeply troubling times. Some of his strongest lyrics to date.

Alison has written and arranged extraordinarily moving string parts on this record; after the Lightship 95 sessions, we left her alone to really explore the initial studio edits and she has delivered her most inventive, expressive and individual work yet I think.

Mariya has worked her magic with not just synths, but most incredible textures, loops she’s created and unusual/beautiful vocals – as well as laying waste to all before her with that might Moog bass! (And our album features a guest appearance from her very talented six-year old daughter - who is also my partner in sofa-based space travel).

This time too – as you may remember – we were chuffed to have the inestimable bass guitar skills of Sonny Johns as part of the initial jams – his bass lines bring McCartney-esque lyricism and drive to many of the tracks.

Sonny Johns - author of beautiful bass guitar lines and bloody ace engineer on our new album.

And I’m pretty made up about the drum sounds! The floating Lightship 95 studio at London’s Trinity Buoy Wharf has one of the best live rooms of any studio space we’ve used – that heavy iron hull surrounded by water must have had something to do with it (combined with the top engineering skills of Sonny and Lightship’s own super-talented @JoyStacey_)

It’s been a wonder to me how John has brought such centred, songwriting focus to the studio improvisations which have made the final cut from the 26 or so initial pieces we recorded.

Reflecting on all this - is it egotistical to say I’m kinda proud that as a band we are uncompromising in making music that comes directly from the heart, from instinct? In my blog piece from April last year, I wondered if ‘life coming at us’ would find its way onto this new record. I feel it has in ways that really excite me. There’s something magical in the alchemic process of taking improvised music and working methodically to uncover it’s meaning; the excitement I feel about our new record is rooted in how our own human responses have found expression in this record in a way they perhaps haven’t before as a four/five person collective – emphatically and honestly – and without regard for how a fickle, fashion-oriented music industry might receive it. Arrogant as all this may come over – it does seem fitting for a record that marks a 10-year anniversary for The Little Unsaid.

We can only hope you enjoy it and it finds a place in your lives. I’ve probably said too much now and will get battered by the others. Oh well.

And sorry for the gaps in communication these past months; while we have been committed to taking our time in making the best album we can, life stuff has landed for all of us in different ways, preventing us from keeping you up to speed in the way we’d have wished. Our John is a busy man – and the recent arrival of his gorgeous lad Noah brings another dimension to that! No doubt many of you will have heard ‘February Songs’ – his album written and recorded in the presence of Noah in the first weeks of his life. Do check this on Bandcamp if you haven’t already. It’s a heart-warming late winter beauty. https://johnpatrickelliott.bandcamp.com/album/february-songs
Oh – and my wee Yorkshire buddy is once more about to perform his live score for the London-run of ‘Kenrex’ – the ground-breaking play written by the hugely-talented Jack Holden. Get yourselves to Southwark Playhouse between 14 February – 15 March if you can! https://southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/productions/kenrex/

Mariya and Alison too have tremendously busy working lives outside of the band – among which - have you checked their ambient electronic duo project ‘Tvoya’ yet? Their debut EP ‘Akasha’ has been out some time and new releases are on the way. https://linktr.ee/tvoya .They’ve already made BBC6 Music’s ‘Fresh on The Net’ and have twice played at Glastonbury. Their music is extraordinary and lovely. They’re also much-in-demand musicians on other projects.

All of which helps keep the wolf from the door in a tricky music economy. That’s not a moan, it just means we have to be creative in every sense as independent musicians – but which also has the beneficial effect of preserving and feeding our beloved joint project in The Little Unsaid. It remains a labour of love – not something we have to endlessly flog and in some ways devalue in order to keep the lights on. It’s joyful.

Finally - despite the lengthy gestation of our new album, don’t think for a minute we’ve forgotten you; your support in making this record – your faith in us via your pre-order of a record you know nothing about, together with unending messages of encouragement and excitement are genuinely everything to the band.

So friends: next up to share with you will be the album release date, distribution of pre-orders, and…early autumn UK tour dates!

Thank you so much for your patience and love. I’m off to walk a very large dog (my spirit animal & ultimate doofus) in that forest next door. I may befriend a wild pig.

All love,

Tim (& John, Mariya & Alison). xxx

Signing off those final tweaks in South London, February 2025.