I had in my mind mind the opening of Dance On A Volcano by Genesis when arranging the early sections of High Tide. However, the staccato vocals, influenced by Underworld's Born Slippy, suggested a different style of arranging from our traditional sound, so we experimented with guitar, piano and drums to create an effect which had a bit of Planet Telex (Radiohead) about it. We also processed the main vocal line on the verse with distortion which provided a further contrast between the verse and the harmony sections which follow
After the reprised introduction I was unsure of what direction the song should take. I had written a long instrumental piece, beginning with the classical guitar section in High Tide and which originally carried on straight into the section which later became Sky Flying On Fire. In the end, rather than use the whole instrumental piece, we used only the opening sections before reprising the 'none of the old rules apply' passage, albeit in a re-arranged form. The rest of the instrumental became a separate entity, 'Sky Flying On Fire.'
The playout of High Tide was built on a jammed section. The influence here is part Lamb era Genesis, part Mars Volta.
High Tide encapsulates our ambition for Gathering Speed within one seven minute track. One of the main objectives was for the music to be complex and interesting, to reward repeated listening. We also wanted to contrast the more pastoral feel of Bard with music of a higher level of intensity, to combine a more classic progressive sound with contemporary influences, and, most of all, to write an involving story, based on good songs.
After the scene-setting lyric of High Tide, Fighter Command gets on with the story of Pilot and Edith.
Bard and Goodbye to the Age of Steam included a number of short ambient or acoustic guitar pieces. For Gathering Speed, we wanted to incorporate any similar passages within songs rather than as separate tracks. The bridge section in Fighter Command helped us to develop the song in an unexpected direction, whilst being a strong piece of music on its own.
The final reprise of the music from the 'Lost and Found' section was a late addition to Fighter Command. When we first added this reprise, we simply returned to the 12-string picked guitar part, which faded quite quickly. However, some new music was layered over the 12-string as well as a reprise of some of the melodies and themes from the earlier parts of the song. Laura Murch then improvised her vocal.
Road Much Further On started out as a short acoustic guitar based song, consisting only of the early vocal sections. We felt it was a strong idea which deserved a more epic setting, so some new passages were written, resulting in a number of tempo and mood changes, requiring careful navigation and representing quite a challenge in terms of the arrangement.
The guitar solo near the end was an improvisation which survives from the album demo and is played over a reprise of the chords from the early vocal sections.
Road is influenced by a variety of sources, including Sigur Ros, Low, Tram, Pink Floyd, Radiohead and Genesis.
Sky is the third instrumental of this type that we've attempted, following on from Red Five (the Infant Hercules) and Two Poets Meet (on the Japanese release of Goodbye to the Age of Steam.)
Sky is a continuation of the classical guitar part in High Tide. It also includes some themes from Road. The acoustic 12-string picking and underlying chords from Road are used in a different setting, with the keyboard solo taking up the 12-string theme.
The playout is based on the the earlier classical guitar chord sequence from the start of the track, but is arranged for the full band over a different time signature.
The early sections of Sky are influenced by Nursery Cryme era Genesis and elsewhere there are shades of Steve Hackett, Pink Floyd and Camel.
The title is taken from the last line of Alan Garner's Stone Book Quartet.
Into battle...
Back in New York City by Genesis was an influence on earlier versions of Pell Mell, although the song has moved on a fair way from its original premise.
The climactic ending, beginning with Sean's rising vocal part, is intended to portray the maelstrom of aerial combat.
In Powder Monkey, Pilot meets his end. It was from this song, which is one of the earliest completed compositions for Gathering Speed, that the concept for the album emerged.
The early sections are influenced by Cinema Show, Anthony Phillips and Sigur Ros, while much of the rest of the song has a Cure and Van Der Graaf Generator influence. Sean's vocals are partly drawn from his audition performance and Greg's improvised guitar solo survived from the earliest demo.
The clock at the end belonged to Sean's grandfather, who was involved in the Battle.
The title track evolved from a song called An Ending. This piece, shorn of its original singing parts, forms much of the instrumental middle sections of the song which are now bookended by the short vocal harmony sections. There is a reprise of Powder Monkey within the instrumental passages.