i caught my breath / save me (released 28.3.21)

Sunday the 28th of March 2021 was my 45th birthday, so I just had to release a single! (45, see what I did there? 🤣). The tracks I chose were 'i caught my breath' from my EP, and an adaptation of 'Save Me' by Aimee Mann.

'i caught my breath’ is about finally finding the person to hole-up with  for the rest of my life, my wonderful fiancé Nicky. It's a love song,  about how we hurtled through life and in finding each other, at long  last we finally found a chance catch our breath - as we began our  journey together. The song started out on a loop pedal, and evolved into  this final version - featuring my first composition of 4 part vocal  harmony. It’s a very special song to me. 

The video is intentionally non-narrative, and intends to both hypnotise the viewer a little, and to present images themed around balance - as well as some funky shots of me playing guitar! The background is the pebbles from the beach by Seven Sisters in the South Downs - as I was walking on it, it struck me that the pebbles were reminiscent of visual white noise (like static on an old TV), but of course weren't all white! It kind of hypnotised me as I wandered, and i took out my phone and took a lot of photos - these then became the beginning of the video...
 

Aimee Mann's 'Save Me' – is a song with similar themes to ‘i caught my  breath’ – and is a song I have always loved, with my own stamp on it  here. As with all my covers work, I learn the basics of the song, and  then make it my own, adding the parts I hear, rather than what's  actually on the original recordings. This is a new and officially  licensed arrangement moved into in 3/4 (rather than 4/4), with a new  instrumental section I composed replacing the bridge.

For Save Me, I produced a demo and sought permissions from the publishers (a complex process!), and then once I had been granted them (phew!) I set about creating this final version. I approached Dave Bloom (www.DaveBloomDrums.com) who provided the stunning drum kit work, and my friend Tom Fairbairn (www.detailsmusic.co.uk) to mix the track, and to later 'mentor' me on the process to help me upskill! Mastering was once more done by Tom S. Ray (www.audio-unity-group.com)

I launched the single with a YouTube premier on my birthday - and all of my catalogue will shortly also be available on the usual streaming / download stores world wide.

Thanks to everyone who has shown me support in this - it all means so much, and helps a great deal.

Michael x