‘Beautiful Tuesday’: A psychedelic Indian/Celtic/Zen stew?
“This sun is coming out …”
The longest number on our ‘A Day of Rainbows’ album, ‘BEAUTIFUL TUESDAY describes a magic moment when the clouds lifted and the sun burst through across a Scottish headland.
Influenced by some of George Harrison’s songs in his post-Beatles period, the music was built around something common to both Indian and Celtic music – a drone, created with a sitar-like guitar tuning, the Indian shruti, and lush backing vocals by Lisa Fitzgibbon and Lily Dior. And some impressive bodhran-esque toms-walloping from The Wood Demons’ Ed Kontargyris.
In the middle eight, Ukrainian Anatoliy Vyechaslavov adds tenor sax, and Colman Connolly’s uillean pipes underline the Celtic flavour. (At the end of the third verse I wanted a long, held note and surprised myself by singing the final phrase for 25 seconds!) Co-producer Nick Moorbath’s sonic flourishes include a reverse-strings intro and a pentatonic playout on a retro synth.
BEAUTIFUL TUESDAY is one of my most complicated productions, but I wanted it to be a happy and joyful celebration of a simple moment. Thanks to all these amazing collaborators for helping me make it fly.
Check out BEAUTIFUL TUESDAY here: https://vegetarianscarnivores.bandcamp.com/track/beautiful-tuesday
Right now we’re writing and recording a brand new set of songs launching throughout 2024/25 and with a 2026 album in the pipeline. Why not get in touch to find out more - we’re on all the links, top of the page. And meanwhile check out ‘A Day of Rainbows’ and other songs here on our website and at: https://linktr.ee/vegsandcars Thanks for reading. And listening!
Creating the most epic song on our ‘A Day of Rainbows’ album
It all begins with an idea.
“Well ... what a year that was ...”
The key song on our album ‘A Day of Rainbows’ - and the first written - is WELL … It’s a simple song at the start - just acoustic and slide guitars, keyboards and vocals, with a great tenor sax solo from Mike Wilkins.
The second half is created around a B to F chord sequence (the so-called Devil’s Interval) that grows into a rollercoaster climax. I wanted this climax to express the tempestuousness that was going on in my life at the time, so we created a hyper-percussive arrangement designed to sound something like a crazy steam engine in a thunderstorm. Co-producer Nick Moorbath at Evolution Studios did a brilliant job realising this, using midi instruments layered around a conga track, a demonic sax improv joining before the runaway train finally crashes into the buffers. The gentle passage after the chaos is a mash-up of my wife’s voice, our dog splashing through a stream, and an Andalusian flamenco busker.
WELL … features just three human musicians and only a handful of ‘real’ instruments: two guitars, piano, Hammond organ, sax (and voice). But by the end there are over a hundred tracks of midi and effects delivering the powerful emotional journey I was aiming for.
WELL … is one of my most personal songs, and still one that I’m most proud of. Check out the full length video here.
Right now we’re writing and recording a brand new set of songs launching throughout 2024. Why not get in touch to find out more - we’re on all the links, top of the page. And meanwhile check out ‘A Day of Rainbows’ and other songs here on our website and at: https://linktr.ee/vegsandcars Thanks for reading. And listening!