The official cover of Airship shows an airship moving through the clouds, majestic and graceful. We only have a momentary glimpse as it briefly comes into view. That is my favourite part! The black and white hearkens back to the golden age of lighter-than-air flight. I hope you like it as much as I do!
Airship will be available for pre-order as of tomorrow (25 September 2016).
FORGOTTEN FIELDS
It is now a matter of days before the Airship album becomes available for pre-order. At the last minute, I have decided to make changes to the tracklist. Nothing major, just changes to three track titles to help refine the narrative of the album.
The biggest change was to the title of track five, “The View From Above”. When I paradoxically added lyrics describing a view of the airship from below, I faced a dilemma: do I change the lyrics or the track title? I decided on the latter. “The View From Above” is now titled “Silently You Sail”, after the first line from the lyrics.
The next change was to the title of “Return”, the last track on the album. Originally, this track described the return leg of a round trip flight. But in the light of “Silently You Sail”, it became clear that I was actually describing the conclusion of a voyage. It made sense to change “Return” to the more appropriate “Destination”.
The final change was the least significant, but I wrestled with it for over a month! I removed “in the” from “In the Hangar”, the title of track one. It’s unforgivably overscrupulous, but I think you will agree that it looks neater!
The album will be available for pre-order this Sunday (25 September 2016). I am beyond excited!
FORGOTTEN FIELDS
Sometimes, one is so caught up in a project that one forgets to keep things simple. For days, I’ve been agonising over the Airship album Bandcamp page. I had planned to write an overview of the album concept, as well as track-by-track expositions, walking the listener through the music.
But, I kept hitting a wall. No matter how many times I rewrote the paragraphs, they sounded ridiculous. The album descriptions read like a bad press release—”Sail on the airs of dark melodic soundscapes…”—and the track explanations were like excerpts from a pretentious review—”Strings ease the tension and gently reassure…”—it was beyond embarrassing. (There is a screenshot of my cringeworthy writing below.)
Today, I came to my senses. There is no need to spoon-feed anyone, everyone can interpret the music as they see fit. And what better album description than the lyrics for “The View From Above”? It felt appropriate, simple and succinct. I breathed a sigh of relief.
FORGOTTEN FIELDS
Forgotten Fields 