Unbroken Ones

Probably my first ever love song, over a decade into my career. Shameful to admit that, but such were the tribulations of that time that the ambiguities which had strangled my expression of those emotions in the past now crumbled away and let me sing in peace. Produced by Mark Saunders as part of the final Mansions sessions (see Beneath Music), but played entirely by me and Nick Bunker. Still a song which I very much like to sing.

The Big Lukewarm

Another staple of my (rarely-exercised) live repertoire since it was recorded - it actually gets better all the time. In the fabulous, not at all funny even with hindsight 1980s, I used to hang about (when not striving to end relationships by hiding from people) with various trainee cultural entrepeneurs who really rated Lawrence Kasdan's film "The Big Chill". I never knew what these people saw in this film. Neither did I know how they managed to make a go of their lives, while I'm just sat here typing recollections about music that few people give a fuck about. Part of the same blind spot? Who knows? This song is supposed to describe what these mid-30s reunion things actually feel like...

Irrational Falsifier

An intercepted radio broadcast concerning Yitzhak Rabin's assassination gave rise to this. One of the last things to be recorded for the album, when the micro-budget had dwindled to its last and I was working in the basement of Stratford Municipal Swimming Baths, and would have given up due to the loneliness were it not for my friend Steve Dray.