1.Back
2.Double Dare
3.No Frills
4.Red Too
5.Intolerant
6.Serious Matter
7.Question
8.Kid Canutt
9.Fire and Tao
10.Shutdown
11.Short Change
12.Crackle and Hiss
13.Secrets Left
14.Secrets Kept
15.The Anchored Man

"...The house stands hidden.
Surrounded by pines.
Fenced off beyond the branches.
Fallen and forgot.
 
Walking against traffic.
 Our feet in middle of nowhere mud.

Her silhouette cut out from the afternoon.
And so it was we found the secrets left..."

The vast majority of these songs have been waiting in my notebooks or scrawled over numerous sheets of paper since the middle of last year.
It’s been a strange one – even for me.
It’s only been fairly recently that I’ve been able to get back to making music.
Still – I’m glad how it’s all worked out.

I’m pretty proud of this one.
It’s probably the most personal to date.
James came through once again with the instruments as did Rachel on the title track.
I’m the pickiest/most annoying person to work with so I’m just grateful that James is more patient than I and puts up with my “Yep”s and “NO”s.
Thanks again buddy.

There’s a lot more turntable stuff on this one too.
I always feel like I’m cheating a track if I don’t cut on it in one way or another.
 
Pretty much everything was recorded in Watsons bedroom while the cat stared at me horrified and confused…Sorry Loki.

Back.
Well, you know…it’s an intro of sorts.
It's been a while.
Just felt the need for a reminder.

Double Dares.
Just a good old rant.
I wrote most of it on my bike having to stop every five minutes to get it all down.
And then my bike got stolen.
Which sucked.
But I've just got a better one so all's well again.

No frills.
Pretty much sums it all up.
No fanfare – nothing much.
I wrote most of it around a fire on a beach in Europe. Hence the chorus.

Red too.
The story of last year.
You get your ups and downs - then you wake up and the reasons make sense.
James did the Guitar and Cello here.
But his Halloween costumes truly suck.

Intolerant
People think I’m grumpy.
I thought I’d go with it.

Serious matter.
I guess this kind of picks up where “June” left on “Rules of Rust”.
More hope stuff.

Question.
A little skit concerning a weekend I stayed at the Ashram.

Kid Canutt.
The tale of a fools past and present.
Arthritis is fun stuff.
The main loop cost me ten pence.

Fire and Tao.
The first verse was written on a long and lonely train journey into the middle of nowhere. Listing thoughts and weird feelings on my way to a new future.
The second verse was written on the way “home”.
Most important weekend of my life incidentally.
James on Cello.

Shutdown.
Yet another cathartic rant.
Sometimes it all gets a bit much you see.

Short change
This one had to be written.
Hate’s a waste. I wash my hands.
James kills it on cello.
“Hell for leather” two perhaps? Who knows?

Crackle and hiss.
Self explanatory. A dedication to a music I love.
Guts.
I like old stuff. Thanks.

Secrets left
There are a lot of abandoned buildings where I’ve been staying.
This one’s about an old house we found – unloved and forgotten.
What we found in there we took back with us.
So I’ve got another box of secrets now.
Rachel on Banjo, James on Cello.

Secrets Kept.
Every town's got someone like this.
People make up their minds about these sorts – mostly negative and unjust.
Fear, laziness and ignorance.
But, of course, some of them wouldn’t have it any other way.
There's a long story about how the "train" noises came about but It'd take too long.
It involves driving yourself insane in a night.
James on Cello.

The Anchored Man.
Clarity.
Wrote on the pontoon at a ridiculously early hour one morning before I went to catch a train.
Weirdly, the chorus was something that was there in my head when I woke up the next morning – I rolled over, wrote it down and haven’t changed it at all.
Somehow it seemed to fit.