2020 - Andy Balcon - Press Kit
'Who Am I?' was recorded in Bath (UK) at Nine Volt Leap Studios. An amazing place buried amongst the corridors of an old milk factory, Dom Bailey-Clay (the producer) and I worked late into the evening utilizing this amazing space and its organic corridor sounds to capture the honest energy and natural reverbs of what would have once been a chaotic space to of been in. as evenings rolled on you would hear footsteps coming up the hall, those footsteps being of Swingers who occupied another one of the units. Every now and then you would hear them sing a one-liner from a classic Kareoke tune as they walked past the microphone. it felt like the control room was monitering station at times.
When it came to the recording process everything ran very smooth and we knew initially what sounds and tones we wanted to work with. I'm a huge fan of the Mellotron and its iconic sound. it cuts through the body of a song and really pushes chords where they need pushing. We were fortunate enough to Borrow one from our friend Dan (Guitarist from The Heavy). I also wanted to focus on the lower frequecies in this record, so the use of sub-octave bass was a real theme through out.
Alot of the songs had been sat with me for a very long time, most of them as just riffs which I'd noodled away at in hotel rooms while on tour with my band Heymoonshaker. the Riff for 'This Old Heart Is Still Young' came to me while visiting my Sister in Australia, this riff has taken many forms and finally sat against a poem I'd written while busking in London. I went back to busking to reconnect with the roots of my playing, I'd found that I'd lost touch with the reason I was playing somewhere along the way. Now when i listen to this song I think lyrically I'm explaining how one can grow old and see the world through aged eyes but still hold onto a naivity and playfulness which you have as a young man. its a juxtaposition I guess.
The Ep talks a lot about this battling of Identity, whether it be Lost & Found - or the more obvious 'Who Am I?'. Having been on the road since 2009 returning to normal life was a little shock to the system. Seeing your peers settling down having worked there way up in jobs. I came back from traveling with nothing but a guitar and a story. This Ep is really a platform for me to voice the identity crises I was struck with.
I'd like to say this is my most accomplished work and I really had a vision on how I wanted to adapt the traditional blues and move into a contempary sound. I hope you enjoy it as theres alot more to come.