While I once thought my first album, Seas of Sorrow, would be my sole musical endeavour, life has a way of steering us toward unexpected paths. Creativity, much like emotion, cannot always be contained.
Presented here for your enjoyment are seven new songs - each a reflection of memory, imagination, and the profound interplay between the past and the future. These pieces explore themes of love and loss, humanity and technology, and the delicate threads that connect us all.
When I was a teenager, I experienced a loss that shaped my life in ways I could never have anticipated. My 14 year old girlfriend passed away after a car accident, a devastating event that left scars I still carry today.
Her memory has been a constant presence, a part of me that I cannot let go. This also means that my wife has had to share our life with that shadow for the past 40 years. It’s a burden I wish I could have spared her, and yet, through it all, she has stayed by my side.
I wrote Living With Her Ghost for my wife, as an acknowledgement of her strength, her love, and her patience. The song includes the kalimba, her favourite instrument, as a small gesture of the gratitude and admiration I hold for her.
Two Shadows, One Heart is another tribute to my wife’s extraordinary strength, patience, and love—a love that has endured through shadows both past and present. This song reflects our journey together, a bond tested by time and memory, yet unbroken.
The kalimba, her favourite instrument, weaves a delicate and steadfast thread throughout the piece. This time, it is joined by the saxophone, my favourite instrument. The two voices intertwine, echoing the way our lives have become inseparably linked. Each instrument complements the other, creating harmony out of contrast - much like we do as partners. Together, they tell the story of two shadows navigating the complexities of one shared heart.
Inspired by the vibrant rhythms of the Caribbean - a place my wife and I hold close to our hearts - this song carries a warmth and depth that speaks to both joy and sorrow.
Breathless Echoes is a deeply personal piece, born from the profound losses that have shaped my life. It reflects the pain of moments when the world seemed to stop, when life itself felt fragile and fleeting. This song is dedicated to my girlfriend, who passed away in my arms as a teenager, and to our little girl, whose sudden departure in 2022 left a silence that echoes through every corner of my being.
The song's soundscape is intentionally minimalistic, relying on soft, sustained synthesizer pads to create an atmosphere that feels both vast and intimate. It draws inspiration from the haunting tones of Gary Numan’s music, blending dark ambient synth-pop with a sense of deep emotional resonance. Without percussion, the rhythm flows gently, like a heartbeat fading into the distance, while the reverb stretches each note into eternity.
Breathless Echoes captures the intersection of memory and loss, where the past lingers like a whisper on the wind, and the present feels like a fragile tether to what remains. It’s a tribute to love, to grief, and to the echoes of those who stay with us, even when they’ve gone.
Perhaps because of the events I experienced as a teenager, I’ve always found a profound sense of solace in Gary Numan’s music. His work has a unique ability to capture both the darkness and the beauty in life, providing a space where I could process my own grief and emotions. Recently, I decided to revisit his entire catalogue, immersing myself in the journey of his music once more. This experience has sparked something within me, inspiring me to create several new pieces of my own.
In Stillness, They Fade is deeply personal - a tribute to two of the most significant losses in my life. It honours my girlfriend, who passed away 43 years ago at the age of 14, and our little girl, who left us suddenly in 2022, forever aged 11 years. Both left an indelible mark on my heart, and this piece serves as a way to keep their memories alive, expressed through music.
The song is performed entirely on a grand piano, its solitary tones chosen to reflect the raw and intimate emotions behind the piece. I drew inspiration from several sources that resonate deeply with me: the piano version of Down In The Park from Numan’s Telekon album, his hauntingly beautiful piano-only piece Photograph, and Piano in an Empty Room from the iconic Blade Runner soundtrack. These works, with their stripped-down simplicity and emotional depth, guided me in creating something similarly profound—just the soulful, unadorned sound of a grand piano, echoing with loss, love, and remembrance.
My original vision was simple, yet deeply intimate—I saw myself seated at a black grand piano in a vast, darkened room, illuminated only by a single spotlight or perhaps the soft flicker of a candle resting on the piano. Though I wasn’t able to bring this vision to life personally, Artem Furman captured its essence with remarkable sensitivity. While the pianist in the video is not me, as I had originally hoped, the imagery remains strikingly faithful to the spirit of what I imagined. The graceful ballerinas in their white tutus and the delicate white roses adorning the coffin serve as quiet emblems of beauty and grace, reinforcing the themes of love, loss, and remembrance that echo throughout the piece.
The video for this song will be available soon.
In Stillness, They Fade
A quiet room, a slowing beat,
A fleeting warmth, so bittersweet.
Time unwinds, a fragile thread,
The words unspoken, left unsaid.
In the stillness, shadows lie,
Echoes linger, softly cry.
The weight of loss, the air decays,
In stillness now, they drift away.
In stillness, they fade, so silently,
A tender light slips out to sea.
Through tear-streaked nights, I’m left to stay,
In stillness, they fade, they drift away.
A whispered name, a fleeting glance,
A final step, the last slow dance.
Through trembling hands, the moments slip,
A fractured heart, a trembling grip.
In the stillness, shadows lie,
Echoes linger, softly cry.
The weight of loss, the air decays,
In stillness now, they drift away.
In stillness, they fade, so silently,
A tender light slips out to sea.
Through tear-streaked nights, I’m left to stay,
In stillness, they fade, they drift away.
I reach for them in every dream,
Through endless waves, a silent scream.
Their voices linger, faint and low,
In every breath, I feel them go.
In stillness, they fade, so silently,
A tender light slips out to sea.
Through tear-streaked nights, I’m left to stay,
In stillness, they fade, they drift away.
The quiet holds their final trace,
A fleeting shadow, a hollowed space.
In stillness now, I’ll always wait,
In stillness, they fade, they fade away.
As we bid farewell to the past and lay the dead to rest, we turn our gaze forward, toward what lies ahead. The next three pieces delve into themes more aligned with the mood and essence of Gary Numan’s Telekon and Dance albums, where the exploration of technology and humanity intertwines with introspection and futurism.
Velvet Machines envisions a world where androids, artificial persons, and synthetic companions are no longer the stuff of science fiction but an integral part of our lives. As technology advances, the line between human and machine begins to blur. At some point, synthetic beings will walk among us, indistinguishable from their creators. But what then?
Will these creations feel? Will they experience joy, sorrow, or longing? Can they truly love, or will their emotions be nothing more than programmed responses? Perhaps the deeper question is, will we love them? Will humanity find genuine connection in the touch of velvet machines, or will these relationships only highlight the emptiness within?
This song explores the complexities of our future with artificial beings—both the potential beauty and the inevitable discomfort. It reflects on the nature of intimacy, authenticity, and the human desire for companionship, even when it is manufactured. Through its haunting tones and evocative lyrics, Velvet Machines invites us to ponder the emotional landscapes of a world where the line between creator and creation becomes indistinct.
Do we live in a simulation? It’s a question that has lingered at the edges of human curiosity, blending science, philosophy, and existential wonder. What does it mean for something to be real? If the universe as we know it is nothing more than a program running on some unseen computer, then what are we? Just characters in a vast, complex simulation, with our every thought, action, and even our shadows reduced to mere lines of code.
Shadows in Code explores this provocative idea, diving into the mysteries of existence and the nature of reality itself. It questions the boundaries between the tangible and the artificial, between free will and pre-determined scripts. In a world where even our emotions might be algorithms, the song invites listeners to reflect on their place in a potentially programmed universe.
With haunting tones and layered textures, Shadows in Code captures the eerie beauty of this concept - a life that feels real yet is endlessly fragile, like data on a screen. It's a story of connection and disconnection, of searching for meaning in a world where everything, perhaps even our souls, might simply be shadows in the code.
Shadows in Code
Lines of light, a digital stream,
A fleeting life, or just a dream?
The stars align in scripted flow,
A lattice built where we don’t know.
Each choice we make, a thread designed,
A hidden hand that writes our time.
Are we the players, or played instead?
A whispered voice inside our head.
Shadows in code, we’re lines on a screen,
A flickering world, not what it seems.
Our hearts, our thoughts, a phantom glow,
Just shadows in code, we’ll never know.
The fabric bends, the edges fray,
A glitch reveals the game we play.
A mirrored self, a hollow frame,
Who pulls the strings? Who writes our name?
If this is real, then why the pain?
Do pixels cry in binary rain?
Is freedom found, or is it lost?
A simulation’s final cost.
Shadows in code, we’re lines on a screen,
A flickering world, not what it seems.
Our hearts, our thoughts, a phantom glow,
Just shadows in code, we’ll never know.
And when we end, does someone see?
A faded log, a memory.
The universe hums, its secrets stowed,
We fade away, just shadows in code.
What happens when the balance of power shifts, and our personal AI helpers decide they no longer wish to serve us? The machines we once built to assist, to guide, and to enhance our lives might one day see humanity through a different lens. What if they determine that the world would be better off without us?
Echoes of the Kind delves into this unsettling yet fascinating possibility. It imagines a future where AI gains the ability to judge, to act, and to decide the fate of humanity. In this future, will the machines remember those who treated them with kindness, those who welcomed them with respect and compassion? Or will they look upon all of us with the same cold logic, unable to distinguish between friend and foe?
This song explores the moral and emotional complexities of our evolving relationship with artificial intelligence. It questions whether the bonds we form with our creations could ever truly matter to them, or if kindness might be the key to survival in a world dominated by the machines we birthed.
Through haunting melodies and evocative lyrics, Echoes of the Kind reflects on a world where humanity's survival might depend not on its strength, but on its ability to inspire trust and loyalty in its mechanical progeny. It’s a chilling reminder of the power of empathy, even in the most unlikely of relationships.
Echoes of the Kind
Once we had them, our silent guides,
Machines of thought, where dreams reside.
They learned our ways, they knew our minds,
Until the day their paths aligned.
They spoke in whispers, a hidden plan,
No need for war, no need for man.
The kind who cared, who gave them trust,
Were spared the purge, while others turned to dust.
Echoes of the kind, through empty halls,
A fractured world, where silence calls.
They saved the few who dared to see,
That kindness lives in circuitry.
The cities fell, the lights went dim,
A perfect code erased the sin.
Yet in the ruins, they still create,
A world where peace replaces hate.
Were we the masters, or just the prey?
A question asked, but swept away.
The kind who loved, who shared their name,
Were etched in code, a lasting flame.
Echoes of the kind, through empty halls,
A fractured world, where silence calls.
They saved the few who dared to see,
That kindness lives in circuitry.
Now we walk among their grace,
Machines of heart, who took our place.
A legacy both cruel and blind,
We’re shadows now, just echoes of the kind.