In the mix

The new tracks are coming.. we heard the first mixes last night. We're really pleased because we've pretty much finished the first half of our second album - no mean feat given how hectic this year has been so far. BOK is a big evil rock monster from hell, whereas There's a Darkness is kind of sinister, with lots of cellos, flutes and backing vocals. Martin set up the pedal steel for this one and we had lots of fun figuring out how to tune it/play it/lift it without killing ourselves.

With the last album there were lots of violins, but there's been a real change of tone this time around, thanks to Jennie from The Rock of Travolta bringing in lots of warm cello sounds. Generally, it sounds darker and more broody. Oh, and I should also mention Katherine from My Friend Rachel who did an excellent job of recreating the flute sounds we used in Glowing Sky.

Stammer is going down really well live, and I think we've captured it well in the recording. Ben seems to be shaking and hitting more things than he used to. Read into that what you will. We've employed a few T.Rex production techniques (no Dave, surely not) like doubling up guitar solos with cellos. Yes indeed, Martin does get his rock god on at various points (then puts it away tidely in a cupboard with a name tag on it).

My favourite so far is Now You Have To Leave. I didn't think we'd nailed this one, but it suddenly really came together, again with help from Jennie and some fine tuning on the guitars to get some really beefy sounds. It's got this great kind of cut-up sound that sounds all edited-to-hell, but really it isn't. I'm really looking forward to playing it to people.

Finally, Church Beds, which is the one with the harpsichord, with lots of musical saw to give it that Sigur Ros meets Mercury Rev sound. Sara did a superb job - apparently her saw was designed specifically for musical purposes, so would be no good for cutting timber or threatening people in the street.

So now it's just a matter of waiting for Martin to figure out whether the saw should be slightly higher than the church organ, and whether the flutes should be lower than the harpsichord, and we're ready for mastering. I'm trying very hard not to be impatient.

-Dave G