Mailman - The Lighthouse & The Rocks (2025) [Hi-Res]

𝐓𝐚𝐫 𝐏𝐢𝐭 𝐓𝐫𝐚𝐩 & 𝐏𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐓𝐢𝐩 𝐑𝐚𝐭 - exact audio inversions of each other that bookend the album, based on a Mailman reversible poem with two opposite meanings. Each subsequent song then has a sister song at it's mirror position in the running order, meeting in the middle.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐎𝐥𝐝 𝐀𝐛𝐨𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 & 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐍𝐞𝐰 𝐀𝐛𝐧𝐨𝐫𝐦𝐚𝐥 - developments of instrumental piano pieces written about 30 years ago that were always intended to become orchestral epics bookending an album (before guitars and life got in the way).

𝐊𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐃𝐚𝐫𝐤𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 - written on a songwriting retreat hosted by Chris Difford of Squeeze in 2021. He said: "Read out the first verse lyrics of a song you love." I chose 'Vincent' by Don McClean. He then gave me back one of those lyrics as a title to go away and write a song for: 'Know The Darkness' ("𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑘𝑛𝑒𝑠𝑠 𝑖𝑛 𝑚𝑦 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑙"). Sister song: 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝 (a sister line from 'Vincent': "𝑊𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑒𝑦𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑐ℎ 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑙𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑎𝑛'𝑡 𝑓𝑜𝑟𝑔𝑒𝑡").

𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥 - refugees who fled US empire backed war perish in their new found home in an avoidable fire in a purposely run down London tower block. Sister song: 𝐅𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐆𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐟𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐇𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐞 - the victims and survivors of systemic violence fight back.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐁𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐃𝐚𝐲𝐬 - for my little girl, also written on a Chris Difford songwriting retreat in 2021. I'd moved my days with her around to finish the retreat, the writing theme was 'favourite days' and I was missing her. Sister song: 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐥 - written around 25 years ago about nothing and no-one in particular, now oddly relevant to my life.

𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐎𝐧 𝐓𝐨 𝐘𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧 - began life as a tribute to Chris Cornell, but I got stuck on it. Then a musician friend called Mike Dobie sadly took his own life in 2021 and I was able to finish it. So it's a tribute to them both and all true artists who check out early or somehow manage to struggle on. Sister song: 𝐋𝐞𝐭 𝐆𝐨 𝐀𝐭 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐓𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐫𝐬 - about a popular teenage suicide spot in Lancashire, UK that bereaved parents turned in to a beauty spot with anti-suicide messaging.

𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐌𝐄𝐓𝐀 𝐇𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬𝐞 - the whole point, the centrepiece. A love/hate letter to an artificial world gone mad. A kind of triplet sister song to The Old Abominable & The New Abnormal, as it was written as an instrumental around the same time, one of the first things I wrote on guitar.