The good people at Creative Commons tweeted ‘Only The Missile’ as their album of the week – happy days…
http://twitter.com/creativecommons/status/1631710242
Image (cc) by Tyler Stefanich
‘welcome to modifythevan’ compilation
Two of my songs, ‘These Days’ and ‘Shakes And Shudders’ are featured on the ‘welcome to modifythevan’ compilation just released by my label modifythevan. You can hear and download it from Jamendo – http://www.jamendo.com/en/album/39356.
With beautiful cover art by Caitlin Hinshelwood and featuring the music of Blue Swerver, Madelaine Hart, Jonny Berliner and Richard Godwin, it is well worth a listen if you want to discover some great new artists.
fensepost review
I just got home from the streets of London to discover a truly lovely review from a US blog called fensepost which I have printed in full below as it made my day…
‘Here is an artist that seems to revel in acoustic sweetness. London’s Robin Grey invites you into his coffee shop friendly world on his latest release. “I Love Leonard Cohen” is a five-track EP so splendid Mr. Cohen himself should be more than honored to have such a talented fan. Anyone looking for a fun-filled depressive state, look no further.
Grey reminisces of greater times on the title track “I Love Leonard Cohen”. This is a masterful folk bit paying a strange tribute to anyone with a regretful memory, as well as simple odes to Meat Loaf, Jeff Buckley, R.E.M., and, more so than others, outplayed Weezer CDs. The blindingly smooth “Shakes and Shudders” is a beautiful backdrop while reading Kerouac’s tale of strength defying times at Desolation Peak – calm, beautiful, and a bit resentful of the pretentious normalcy.
Robin Grey will not need to do too much to prove himself an incendiary artist in the world of folk music. His calmly exquisite mannerisms seem to bring you back to a simpler time and place, whenever you want it to be. There is literature in his words. And “I Love Leonard Cohen” is a beautiful story, desperate to be told.’
taken from http://www.fensepost.com/main/?p=1439
golden brown
[audio:https://www.robingrey.com/mp3/goldenbrown.mp3|autostart=no]
Last month I spent another day recording with the wonderful Dean Firth but this time I brought some friends along.
My favourite take of the day was this cover of ‘Golden Brown’ by The Stranglers which I have uploaded for your listening pleasure here – https://www.robingrey.com/mp3/goldenbrown.mp3
I am hoping to do much more live recording work like this. Capturing a live performance with an ensemble is such a different experience to over dubbing instruments in my little studio!
Christian Lewcock – Percussion and Backing Vocals
Iain Macleod – Banjo and Backing Vocals
Barbara Bartz – Violin
Dean Firth – Electric Bass
these songs were begun one winter
After following some intriguing big arrows from Broadway Market in London Fields I randomly came across an awesome art exhibition back in December called ‘These Songs Were Begun One Winter’ which featured the work of a very talented lady called Caitlin Hinshelwood and some of her equally talented friends.
The exhibition was inspired by a poem of the same name by Brian Patten and has in turn inspired a song which I have just recorded also of the same name.
The poem can be found in Brian Patten’s Collected Love Poems (published by Harper Perennial). Here is the link to buy it from Amazon – http://www.amazon.co.uk/Collected-Love-Poems-Brian-Patten/
Caitlin will hopefully be doing some illustrations for modifythevan’s website and perhaps even some artwork for me in the future. Happy days. You can see more of her work at
http://www.caitlinhinshelwood.co.uk and http://whenthisyousee.blogspot.com/
Lyrics
This song was begun underneath the thumb
Of one who’s thickened by the cold
Listless, longer, bolder than perhaps he ought to be
Forgive quiet and then lie down here lengthways on the floor
Hoping that the blood with flow again
Easily forgot, what was lifted first felt
An anchor to the blood
Howling at the moon as the stars are falling fast
Leaves Wind Earth and Rain
We look forward to look back
These songs were begun one winter
On a window thick with frost her finger drew
A map of all possibilities
the waiting room
I had the hillarious honour of being nominated for ‘Best Cover Version Of The Year’ award on The Waiting Room’s excellent podcast for my version of ‘There’s A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis’ by Kirsty MacColl.
I didn’t win but hey, my first nomination for anything since a certain school debating competition when I was fifteen…
If you haven’t discovered this gem yet do go have a listen at http://www.twrhq.com/ and check out the christmas awards special.
