Kerfuffle

We loved this contribution to our compilation by The Ombudsman (James McIntosh). Lines like: ‘all the spiders want to to scuttle home’ and ‘us leopards take out another mortgage’ stick out in this song about finding and competing for space. All proceeds from the animal-themed compilation, available here, are going to Extinction Rebellion.

What was the songwriting process?

Most of my songs begin with me just messing around with my acoustic guitar. In this instance, I had been learning to play a Proclaimers song with a friend a little while beforehand, so I think some of their Caledonian angst filtered into my fingers that time and subsequently the vocals.

How does it relate to the animals theme?

The song looks at a sense of fear that a lot of people have about their fellow humans, and how a scared uncertainty can lead to anger, conflict, and hate. A lack of empathy and understanding leads many folks down this road. Pondering this made me think of spiders and the old adage that “they’re more scared of you than you are them.” Animals are a really convenient lens for viewing other humans, so I made liberal use of them throughout to touch on this theme.

How did you record it?

I spent a week at the end of 2018 recording at Blue Dot Studios in Brighton. I have played music with Olli, the studio mastermind, for many years, and he’s always been a go-to when it comes to recording music for bands I’ve been in. He had a lot of great insight when it came to production and fleshing out the song further. Backing vocals were provided by another good friend, Tim Huzar, who regularly creates fantastic music.

How long did it take you to make this?

This track was one of ten on the album I recorded with Olli, and I had five days in the studio in which to get everything down. It was a very busy time! This one was one of the quicker ones owing to the fact that it is relatively stripped back, so probably took around half a day to do.

Where can we find more of your work?

At the moment, my music can be found on Spotify and Bandcamp. I spent a big chunk of last year writing and recording a demo a week, and these demos are on the Bandcamp page alongside the tidier recordings. The plan has been to fully record four EPs made up of songs grown from these demos. The first one went up on online around new year and featured a song about a misanthropic pigeon. The third EP will be predominantly animal-focused.