Modus Operandi

Each piece is a mini-soundtrack with an inidividual story.

# Title Length
1 The Year of the Snake 4:53
Written in 2013 for the Year of the Snake. There are various aspects associated with The Year of the Snake and I chose to merge a few together. I decided to go for a dramatic start, then something a little more traditional, and then a (not very oriental) section commemorating 9/11 which happened in a Year of the Snake.
2 Celloforte 3:40
Oh what I wouldn't give to be able to actually play the 'cello!!!! To play this live you'd need 5 cellos, two pianos, and some percussion...! On this recording the piano is real, but the 'cellos are not.
3 Deeemma 3:01
Written for 2 wonderful friends (Dee and Emma) when they got married. This piece uses their names as musical notes for the melody... hopefully not too contrived ;-)
4 New Beginnings 5:51
Energetic new beginnings!
5 Here is N.Y. 2:29
This is a tribute to the thousands that died on the 11th September 2001. A wonderful musician called Stephan Beneking came up with the idea of a 'crowdpiano' project where he supplied a short piece of music and then musicians could record their own interpretation to build up a collection of musical statements - and this is my contribution. This was a very emotional piece to write and I'm not sure I've managed as good a job as I would have liked. It's also very personal and I'm really not sure about sharing it... but here you are, I hope the music makes a personal connection with you. Just over 12 years ago, on the 11th September 2001 my daughter was a few weeks from being born and I remember, in quite harrowing detail, how devastatingly worried I was that the world she was going to be born into would not be the kind of place I'd want anyone to be growing up in, never mind my own daughter. However, taking the positive view (which I usually end up doing eventually) I realised that every life is precious and that for every person that seeks to tear down our world and hurt our loved ones there are more people fighting for our lives and protecting our world. So this is not just a tribute to those that lost their lives on that day - it's also a tribute to everyone fighting against terrorism today.
6 Dreams of the Innocent 2:10
Are any of us completely innocent - and if we were what kind of dreams would we have?
7 Crossing the Mountains 6:32
The epic journey, crossing the mountains - snowy peaks, adventure, wind, danger...!
8 Lament for the Whales 4:28
Originally on my 'In Dreams' album as a 'synth-heavy' version, and also recorded as a previously unreleased orchestral version... THIS version was inspired by a guitar line that a wonderful guitarist called Rik Frieling improvised over the top and sent to me. Of course, the original versions were recorded years ago and suffered from my complete lack of any production skills whatsoever* so there was nothing else to do but completely re-record it ;-) and Rik kindly volunteered to record another guitar line on the top...
9 Who Knows...? 4:09
It's a mystery.
10 Indian Summer 4:41
Indian Summer is all about the feeling you have when there's an unexpected period of sunshine when you were expecting the slow decline into winter...
11 Twisted Star 5:33
Hallowe'en 2012... a scary time was had by all... mwah ha ha ha!