Since 2020 we have been on something of a creative journey, ‘fanning into flame’ songwriting that had got a bit lost in all the busyness, and developing new skills like video editing and trying to learn how to record music at home. I’ve been constantly amazed by Miles who Googles some new skill or watches a YouTube video about it, and then seems immediately able to do it! Increasingly our son Matt has joined us on this journey, especially as we’ve grown more in the recording space. In the last few years, he’s taught himself the bass guitar, researched and set up home recording for drums and percussion, provided amazing tracks on all these things and even joined in on backing vocals! It is such a joy to be creative as a family, and to also be joined by wonderful friends who’ve contributed their gifts to our recording efforts.
Around all the other things in our lives we’ve been working on this pretty much all year, and now it feels time to bring this chapter all together under one banner which we’re calling ‘Acoustic Sessions’ – a collection of songs we’ve written and recorded during this season plus a couple of tracks from years gone by which are already on YouTube but which haven’t yet made it to streaming platforms.
These include the beautiful arrangement of ‘Grace is not earned’ by Mark Edwards, joined by Lucy East on cello, and the acoustic version of ‘In Every Day That Dawns’ (co-written with Stuart Townend), also with Lucy and with Rob Smith so skilfully on guitars. To our original version of ‘The Stone is Rolled Away’ (written with Colin Webster) Matt Simmonds has added a stonking bass track and handclaps – I know I’m biased but I really do love it! This features the amazing vocals of Carla Jane and Stephen Chikazaza, and Miles did such a brilliant job of turning the three of us into a choir!
Other tracks include a remastered version of ‘Come to the Cross’ (written with Geraldine Latty and Carey Luce) and a brand new chorus to the classic hymn ‘Just as I am’ which was the first thing I wrote in lockdown. We’ve also included the version of ‘Let the rain come’ (co-written with Simon Brading and Ben Hall) we released on YouTube recently, featuring the amazing Anna Virkler on vocals with me. The re-mastered version of ‘Come Now’ features the gorgeous guitar playing of Brayden Slade. We have been joined on four tracks by the wonderful sibling harmonies of Matt Irving, Rachel Irving and Anna Virkler and we’re so grateful to them for the number of times they’ve popped round to add a few more vocal tracks, especially as we developed arrangements for tracks like ‘Just as I am (Jesus, Lamb of God) (Just a few more Ooohs!).
We’re also incredibly grateful to Bill Risby, one of Australia’s finest, for all the piano tracks he’s contributed, and to Luke Fellingham at Lunasound for mastering the middle 6 tracks and for brilliantly making a cohesive whole out of individual tracks that have been recorded over a period of years. Looking at this list of names of good friends and collaborators makes us realise we literally couldn’t have done it without them and we’re incredibly grateful that they joined us on this journey.
So, this is where we are. It’s been a huge learning curve and we’re the first to admit we still have a long way to go! This ‘Acoustic Sessions’ project is humble and homemade and right now, that’s how we roll! But, listening to it all through, it’s something we’re quietly proud of and pleased to put out there next week. For us, it marks the end of a season, a chapter. We really hope you like what’s come out of it (and now we can’t wait to get on with the next one!).
‘Acoustic Sessions’ will be out on streaming platforms on 14 October and we really, really hope you enjoy it.
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