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It’s the (H)appiest Christmas Ever!

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And we’ve been threatening to memorialize it in song for some time now. That’s right, the two of us — one a lapsed Catholic, the other a secular Jew so non-observant there really wasn’t anything to lapse from — have been meaning to write a Christmas song for years. Well! We’d both finally completed our Masters’ courses, and about a week ago thought, “Oh… remember how we used to write songs?” So with a limited swath of free time, an impossibly tight deadline, and inspiration in the form of a marauding, mutating virus that’s ruining absolutely everything – challenge accepted!

(H)appy Christmas, one and all!

(Psst – downloads available at our Bandcamp page! )


In The Year of ’39…

Our contribution to the Theme Music Tribute to Queen’s “A Night At The Opera” is Brian May’s wistful tale of relativity and distance. Join us on a voyage through time in search of new lands!


Nothing’s fine, I’m Torn

WE’RE BACK! WITH A *NEW* THING.

Hello! We’re shaking off the pandemic doldrums with a cover we’ve wanted to do for quite some time. This song was made popular on the radio Back in the Day by Natalie Imbruglia, but it was actually written and recorded by LA-based band Ednaswap (of whom Andrea is a longtime fan). Recorded and filmed in the attics, offices and unfinished basements of Boston and Scotland. Hope you like!


So this is the New Year…

It’s often the case that one year feels very much like the last … we can perhaps be optimistic that nothing could ever feel quite like 2020, but while the current situation continues, there’s a certain ennui about living these days on repeat. This feeling of being powered entirely by coffee is definitely brought to mind by Death Cab for Cutie’s “The New Year”, which we have done our thing to to celebrate the birth of 2021.

Wishing you all a happy new year, and hoping your 2021s will be good ones!


Hey hey hey! Are you a twisted fire-starter?

O here! 1996 seems like a ridiculously long time ago, but that’s when The Prodigy’s “Firestarter” was first released, standing out instantly from all the other stuff on Radio 1 that I was forced to listen to at work at the time. It’s since been hailed as a groundbreaking genre crossover track, and of course, featured the late great Keith Flint’s inspired and unforgettable vocal and screen presence.

All of which leads nicely up to February 2020, pre-pandemic, and pre-lockdown, when Andrea was over here in Scotland, and we were discussing unlikely songs that we could cover. “We should do Firestarter,” quoth I, after mimicking a measure or two with accompanying ridiculous head and arm movements. “Oooh!” quoth she. Out came the flute and pseudo-string quartet, for what better instrumentation could there be for such a song? And after some further lockdown-enhanced ridiculous head and arm movements, please allow us to present our own crossover version of Firestarter, with some of the delicate sounds and rhythms of the original recreated from the ground up for your listening pleasure.

Hey hey hey.


That Hazy Shade of Winter is around us

Hey! It’s been a while! The cold season is upon us, and for our seasonal offering this year, a song that isn’t generally considered a seasonal song, but definitely fits the time of year. It also seems to fit the mood that has been 2020.

So enjoy our take on this Simon & Garfunkel classic, with a nod to The Bangles, and a deluge/sprinkling of snow depending on which side of the Atlantic you’re looking at.
Seasons Greetings to all from both of us!


Glory Daze review of Fictional Histories!

We are totally honoured that Fictional Histories is the subject of this fantastic review on GloryDazeMusic.  Our heartfelt thanks to Malcolm Smith for the kind words!  Check it out in full here:

https://glorydazemusic.com/vf/discussion/13464/

 


Andrea on The Time Machine!

Yesterday’s edition of “The Time Machine” radio show from Hawaii featured an interview with our very own Andrea, along with plays of two songs from Fictional Histories.  Check out the excerpt here:

And be sure to check out the full show archive when it’s up https://thetimemachineradioshow.blogspot.com/

 


“Fictional Histories” is HERE!

At last!  Our debut album (or is it?) is here!

Four years in the making (though we’ve been doing other things too, as you can see below) – Fictional Histories is eleven songs ranging from the hauntingly ethereal to the brazenly bombastic, woven together by the illusion of a long, shared history.  Decisions and regrets, successes and failures, lessons learned, roads forever not taken and paths that might still be explored; it is a conversation about pausing in the midst of adulthood, taking stock of the paths that led us to this point, and realizing that there are many more songs left to sing.

If you’ve enjoyed our cover songs, you may well like our originals too.  You can acquire downloads or real-life CD copies of the album (with amazing packaging – at least until we run out of them) from our Bandcamp site (where the majority of funds goes back to the artist).  It’s also available on other platforms from today (see below for a selection), but if you want to help us out and keep the wandering going, Bandcamp is the best option!

For a quick sneak preview…

Places to listen and buy!

Bandcamp (downloads and CDs)

Apple Music / iTunes

Spotify

Amazon (UK) / Amazon (US)

Also available from some time today on other streaming services!


Album of the Week on ConRadio!

Tonight Fictional Histories will be featured as album of the week on ConRadio.  The show starts at 9pm (BST); 4pm (EST) and earlier over the other side of the USA – you work it out!  Come join the fun at www.mixlr.com/ConRadio