Here I Am

A new album, a new era!
When Kevin and I embark on a new project the plan is to create the sort of music we would listen to ourselves. When we wrapped ‘Emotions’ we pretty much got right to work on ‘Here I Am’. Every now and then we’ll have a phone call and discuss all things regarding music, our love of the craft, sounds we love, what inspires us etc. we’ll share anecdotes about a whole host of things. These phone calls have given me a deeper understanding and appreciation for what makes Kevin do what he does so well with that “Sellorekt” sound. I’m always left ready and pumped to work on new stuff and our chats have become a really interesting and important part of our creative process I think.

Kevin had a few ideas already mapped out and I was ready to jump on board and see where the journey would take us. The first song we worked on was ‘Good Time’. When he sent me the blueprint of the instrumental I fell in love with the high energy, dynamic piece. The instrumentation reminded me of some of the sounds used on Michael Jackson’s Bad album and his work on the Disney short film Captain EO. The piece he presented was actually called ‘Good Time’ and my plan was to try and write a story song based on whatever title he presented lol. This was the case for about 5 of the songs such as Suspicion, Tears, Silent Affection and a special song we’re saving for our next project! Sometimes names can change based on the lyrics I end up writing.

Whilst we were creating the album we decided to take a swerve and put together a Christmas album which birthed ‘Winter Wishes’. Needless to say we were doing 2 projects simultaneously and then soon a third happened when ‘Love Connection’ came up just in time for Valentines Day. The truth is, we each have a boundless creative energy when it comes to songwriting so, put us together and it’s no wonder we have so much material! I also think that we work well under pressure and can get a lot done in a limited time. So, when Kevin suggested we make this a double album I was pumped! After one of our conversations I remember he said to me ‘we’re making a statement with this project, people are gonna know what you’re trying to say. Let’s call this ‘Here I Am!’

I wanted to touch on a few personal experiences and tell stories inspired from friends, books I’d read, movies… anything really. My idea lyrically was that each song would be based on a character who is trying to stand out in some way either with a partner, their peers or even as an attempt to address their own self confidence. I guess we all have had a moment where we either want to make an impact or literally say to someone listen to me I’m here, i’ve arrived and I have something to say!

The soundscape of the album is us deep diving into a host of styles from Synth Pop, Retro Soul, R&B, New Jack Swing, Synth Rock, Synthwave and of course New Wave. We love all the sounds of the 80s and the 90s and will never limit ourselves when creating. There’s a philosophy Michael Jackson had which I have taken on with my approach to music making, he used to say “get out of the way of the music, let the music write itself!” It’s been working for me and often the songs take on a very pleasant unexpected sound!

I hope you guys like the album. I’m pretty sure there’s something for everyone on this one.