We’ve updated our Terms of Use to reflect our new entity name and address. You can review the changes here.
We’ve updated our Terms of Use. You can review the changes here.

Demos From FAWM 2020

by TA Walker

/
1.
And so we left the earth On a ladder to the air The other side lost in the mist Some follow shooting stars To see them fall to earth How long will we need To process what we lost And identify the same When winners of the world Act like they lost their souls How quickly some forget On the bridge of fifty days Before they reach the other side I find it easier to know You found the gates more easily How long were you here? A frame or maybe two In wide eternity Painstakingly restored How you were always meant to be [bridge] Where we bade farewell To what was left behind Like a coat required no more The greatest gift to us The lighting of the way For when we leave the earth On a ladder to the air We have the steps you took before
2.
I have no idea How we found ourselves here A hotel room somewhere unknown Two days ago We’d no way to know To these forests we would have flown In stumbling words The nights toss and turn The days making sense of the same One thing is assured No ropes yet secured This river - a packed shipping lane A rest none foresaw Beneath flaming leaves A gift of a view To each other we cling And pray for the king To pardon what we have not done Here too short a time Until our wings climb Toward a new welcoming sun
3.
First breeze in the canopy Of tomorrow's storm offshore Look for the battens to batten down But do they make them any more That steeple further down the road It's seen off tempests by the score We find its permanence assuring But do they make them any more [bridge] As we change, do we stay the same In all the ways which matter most Do we hold steady to the pillars Or lurch between the posts Nests built inbetween the boughs In the end fall to the floor Perhaps the birds learn sundry lessons But still they make them all the more First breeze in the canopy Of tomorrow's storm offshore Look for the battens to batten down But do they make them...
4.
[instrumental]
5.
I think our shed just blew away So this sounds like a duvet day Let me finish in the shower Then back to sleep for one more hour The gale is howling in the eaves May I suggest that no-one leaves Our safety is the first thing on my mind… How lucky there’s no work today So together we can stay I’ll pop downstairs for coffees two And later we’ll take in the view Of flying fences, next door’s greens Plastic chairs and trampolines Watch them whirling round and round While we grin smugly on the ground Then realise our shed’s there too Executing loop-the-loops We shrug it off and laughing more, we say It’s a duvet day...
6.
I’d like to entertain you with some song Conjured out of magic air But it hid somewhere Excuse me for a moment, or two, or three I’ll take a bus, ride into town And hope to track it down Perhaps this song knows, it has an audience Not feeling ready for one who listens Can I convince it otherwise I have to try… I’d like to entertain you with some song Please give a cheer - I’ll tell you why She’s a little shy I hope we entertained you with this song Why some won’t come, I can’t explain And so I’ll try again
7.
Storms in the winter That seem never-ending Burn off in the spring The leaves of the summer And fruits of the autumn And what the lark sings Eternal in moments Yet moments in eternity All that you know and you hold Flowers will fall And even rocks wear But hold fast to that which is true
8.
[instrumental]
9.
Sausage and pancakes Salt-caramel milkshakes Ukulele and tuba Snooker and scuba-diving Who would believe These would go together Opposites pulling Each other to where the Other had never dreamed To go
10.
[instrumental]
11.
I see eyes of black And clouds of floof An earnest face That always tells truth And I think to myself “What a wonderful dog” And when we go for “walkies” In the park or on the street The best part for our canine Is the others that she meets I see pals wagging tails And sniffing rear ends Maybe they teach me We all need friends...
12.
[instrumental]

about

These are the compositions and demos I recorded between 1-29 February 2020, for the February Album Writing Month (FAWM) challenge. The aim is to write and record 14 new songs in 28 days - I didn't quite make it (pipped at the post), but this was fun anyway...

For various reasons - lack of time, feeling run-down, the desire to re-work material properly at a later date - I decided at the outset to keep these demos as simple as possible. This was helped by my recording on a TASCAM DP-006 4-track digital "pocketstudio", which "encouraged" me not to over-indulge on the arrangements front!

(The last six pieces were intended as a sequence of "short songs" (less than 60 seconds apiece), so I thought I'd point that out in case anyone noticed.)

These are definitely demos, then - expect a few rough edges, but I think I'll be taking a good few items from this FAWM forward to my next project. In the meantime: hope you enjoy these!

- Tim

credits

released March 2, 2020

TA Walker: ukuleles, guitars, vocals, Stylophone GEN X-1 synth on "Some Song"
Luna the Cavachon: serendipitous vocal intervention on "What A Wonderful Dog"

All compositions written by TA Walker
Recorded by Tim on a TASCAM DP-006 4-track digital "pocketstudio", wherever he could manage it, between 1-29 February 2020 for the FAWM challenge
Mixed by Tim at Sidingsound I (Logic Pro X), as he went along
Cover photos by Tim, with help from Layout and Prisma
Thanks to my fellow FAWM-ers, my family, and you who listen

license

tags

about

TA Walker UK

Guitarist/multi-instrumentalist, composer and songwriter, often with "electronica", "lo-fi" and "prog" inclinations.

Um... will that do?

contact / help

Contact TA Walker

Streaming and
Download help

Redeem code

Report this album or account

TA Walker recommends:

If you like TA Walker, you may also like: