Elsworth

Additional Info:

Sunday, 7th of June, 2026

21:45 - I'm in England with Mike and Nicole (Vakant Vakant), and we spent a lovely afternoon in their allotment in Elsworth in Sandbach. I helped a little with the gardening, but mostly sat there and just soaked in the country side. The sound of the wind and bumblebees. The serenity. The flowers and plants just swaying in the wind. It was one of my most treasured memories of that trip (Kraftwerk at the Royal Albert Hall was also a highlight, but that was the exact opposite of the peace I was experiencing in the garden, but still equally as inspiring).I wrote this song when we got back to Sandbach later that evening (technically Sunday 7th of June 2026).

Wednesday 24th of June, 2026

23:34 - I'm back in Australia at Subterrane Recording Studio and have Eraserhead playing in the background. I just had a Bahn Mi, and some chilled water with a mix of Ribena and Lemon Juice. Lately I've discovered if I add a small dash of Ribena and a few drops of lemon juice to the chilled water, it really makes for the most refreshing drink. I really only drink 3 things. Ice Cold Water, and Twinings Chamomile, Honey and Vanilla Tea when I'm working in the studio, or at home. And when I work in the hospital on the weekend I drink coffee on night-shift. And when I'm in England with Mike and Nicole I only drink the finest coffee (they are coffee aficionados)

I shot quite a lot of video footage of the plants swaying in the wind, alongside the Bumble Bees buzzing from foxglove to foxglove, inspecting each flower in the hopes of collecting as much pollen as they could. As I was filming I knew that I would be writing a dreamy, hazy song to accompany the visuals. I think they call it dreamcore. I've spent more time writing these notes and thinking of the title of the song, than I will producing the song I suspect. The initial working title is "Elsworth Forever" but that may change.

I also shot some footage in the backyard of Mike and Nicole's house. Their backyard is a pure delight. An eclectic mix of all sort of bushes, trees and flowers. And for added wonder, their cat Sesame was making himself the star of the show for my camera, so no doubt she will feature in the video. I'm considering making Part 1 and Part II. But I'm getting ahead of myself, considering I haven't written one note of music yet.

Eraserhead just finished playing, so now I have Mulholland Drive playing in the background. On a side note, I found out (by accident) that Oliver Tree was killed in a helicopter accident this week. I was shocked and devastated when I heard the news. He was a big inspiration, and a true independent artist. It just seems unreal that his life is over, essentially in the prime, and beginning of his rise in popularity. Perhaps the grief will also inform my composition. It's now 2345 and I should start making some actual music. Stand by for an update later.

I just realised this is my first track using Cubase 15. I bought it last year in November but I've been using Cubase 14 out of habit. Let's see how it goes.
I know I'll be using the new Cherry Audio ESQ+ synth, and some Jupiter 8 and DX7 for Bells. And some Roland JV1080 for electric piano.

05:33 - Just finished the first arrangement, and printing in now. V1 is done. I think it's nearly there. A few small changes. I don't want to overdo it. Time for a quick bite to eat, some Alan Partridge and then off to bad. Not bad for 6 hours work.

Sunday 28th of June, 2026

22:00 - I've decided to rename the track to Elsworth Memories as I think it's more fitting. I also will make this a 4-part "Casio Series" similar to The Human League's Red/Blue classifications. It's late at night, but I in the mood to finish the song.

Monday 29th of June, 2026

07:49 - The song is finally done (V3). OK, so I have no idea where the time went. I spent a lot of the night getting side tracked on website stuff (for another website I run) which had some tech issues. Then I edited the Neon Nights Podcast YouTube videos, and then finally looped back round to this song. I spent an hour or so on the vocal samples that I used for the track, and had to go through several layers of processing to get them to the stage where they were usable (removed all the background noise and music). Spectralayers is what I used for the vocal processing. It's such a powerful tool. I'm amazed at how far technology has come. Time for sleep now.

Thursday 2nd of July, 2026

18:05 - I just upgraded to Spectralayers V13 which is perfect timing, because I could clean the vocal samples even better than with V12. I listened back to the track and realized it was a bit too busy, so I cleaned up the melody line. I also added a semiquaver random step filter on the Juno-106 arpeggio line, to give it a subtle Enjoy the Silence bassline feel, in addition to the DX7 which was also arpeggiating. Earlier today Jack and I went to Sharyn's place to help dismantle her old couch. By the time I caught the train back into the city it had really started to pour. We got back to the studio just in time. I spend the morning working on Neon Nights editing for the next 2 shows, and felt like this song needed one final tweak, as I had been listening to it on the train ride to Brunswick and back. It only took a few hours to make the changes. The final version V4 was printed at 17:42. I decided to change the name to just "Elsworth" and I had been listening to The Buggles on the train as well and Elstree came on. I realized that I need to minimize the song title as well as the song itself!