WorshipCentral

Stew Smith from Delirious popped in to do percussion and we finshed the acoustics

It’s always amazing listening to people play really tight percussion. It’s so physical, to be able to keep a shaker steady and constant for 4 mins without missing a beat or making it sound lagging in places. Stew is a master. He literally did about seven tracks in an hour, adding tambo, triangle, shakers, and all sorts of stuff.

We then worked on acoustics: there are a few of songs that we wanted to do some simple acoustic parts on, including ‘Morning Star’, ‘How Long’ and ‘Glorious’. We tried playing the riff on the verses of Glorious, but the electric has covered that, so it felt too much and after a few takes we simply stuck to a hammering rhythm on the choruses.

Mid-morning the wonderful Tom Smith popped by: Tom is working with us as an intern at Worship Central, and it was cool to see his cheeky chops, especially as he came armed with bacon butties. Beautiful.

After lunch we worked on the vocals for ‘Glorious’, which was fun. It’s one of the oldest songs on the record, and I know it well, which makes it easy to record, but still challenging. When you’re recording a vocal for a song you’ve just written, you have to work a lot harder, as you’ve not had the luxury of roadtesting it with a congregation. It was fun.

Then we worked on a song called ‘Everlasting Arms’ which is one of my favourites. It’s an idea I had on a plane to the US a couple of years ago. I was fiddling with 70’s piano samples, cutting them together, and found this haunting chord sequence. I remember singing the vocal idea into my laptop in a loo of one of those snazzy American mega churches. The chorus goes ‘Hold me in your arms, those everlasting arms’. I got some very strange looks when I emerged.

Anyway, last night away from home, and while the hotel bed is comfy and I’m getting some sleep away from my little baby, I can’t wait get home and see my family. Tomorrow is our last day at Street, and it’s been such an amazing place to record.