released February 1, 2021

Written, performed,produced and fucked up by Graham Sykes

1 - Red Star. This is a bit of a nothing track and is a typical guitar players instrumental. That is - "let me take this opportunity to bore the fuck out of you with widdly widdly shit". Not much to say really except that I wish I'd put something else on the album instead. Still its there now. It started off at 200 bpm but I couldn't chug fast enough and had to slow it to 190 bpm so I could keep up. Age eh?

2 - Cydonia. An example of how things get out of hand quickly when writing and recording at the same time. It was the first piece of music I started on release from hospital in August 2020 and was intended to be something easy to try and get back in the swing of things. How wrong I was. Its not even 5 minutes long and took by far the longest in mixing and mastering. As I often do to my own detriment, I try and put too much sound into the tracks and this ended up total overkill and in the end I deleted half of the tracks to reduce the level of "mud" in the final mix. Its still clipped to fuck but I like the track itself - I just need to know when to stop.

3 - Westing. This nearly never made it. It was finished in February 2020 and never got off the ground in my mind. It was actually relegated to a back up hard drive because it just wasn't working (and taking up too much space in my working drive). I'm glad I gave it a second chance. I quite like it now. The song-writing process is often the easy part - its the "coloring-in" that is difficult and this was a track that was written very quickly and was the first track of this collection to be started back in December 2019.

4 - Pink Missile Diplomacy. This also nearly ended up in the digital bin. The song itself was sound but I just couldn't finish it. The riff has been in my head for years and has had false starts on the last 2 albums. Then came the VST vocal synth which made me laugh like fuck and earned it a place on the finished roster.

5 - Let The Rivers Run Dry. This comes from June/July 2020 when I was getting seriously ill (and didn't know it). Recollections of this track are a little hazy. But I do recall the brass section reminded me of "Fanfare For The Common Man" which shows I was ill, because the track stayed.

6 - Ohka - A particular favourite. An experiment using a full (Native Instruments) orchestra. The orchestral part was written years ago on an old keyboard (top of the line from Aldi) but I never came up with anything that fit with it until Ohka. Inspired by the kamikaze nightmare in the Pacific in WW2.

7 - Angry Fly. A re-working and re-recording of an old track that I have always liked. Its just repetitive phrases building on each other. I like experimenting with this type of this and really must do more. You start with a simple guitar line and start adding and adding and adding and.......well....until something amazing happens....or it sounds like the gates of hell yawning open .....or slamming shut (depending on which side you're on)....or a plugged in guitar being thrown down a stairwell. You decide!

8 - In The Company Of Damocles. This is going to sound pretentious as hell. This track is my attempt to put to music, the experience I had in August 2020. I nearly died from sepsis and diabetic ketoacidosis which was all triggered by a knee infection. This track was started not long after my release from hospital and was somewhat difficult to write and record as I was still riddled with sepsis and the pain from the weight of a guitar in my lap nearly sent me through the ceiling. But I suppose it helped in creating some of the soundscapes I use in the track. It tries to emulate the "sounds in your head" that I experienced when near death and the "highs" of surviving it but also tries to encapsulate the ongoing struggle physically - and anger therein (I've had to learn to walk again and my knee is still very painful and feels like its made of stone. Additionally though it also tries to pre-celebrate (for me) the ultimate beating of all the health problems it triggered ....... i hope...... I'm certainly giving it my best shot.

I wanted to call it "Sword Of Damocles" but Nick Cave beat me to it. The reason behind the title is that apparently if you have sepsis to the level | had (I'm told - by the Sepsis Trust UK) there is a 5 year period post infection where the sepsis can come back at any time and if it does ....they bury you. So hence all the uploads - I'd like to get em somewhere public just in case.

I may have over-done the funeral bells and the chanting monks though!! But it was the only thing about this track that made me laugh......Update April 2021 - leg is well and truly on the mend as are all the other issues triggered by the sepsis and DKA. Probably get run over by a fuckin ice cream van tomorrow!!!

9 - The Unseen Real. A rewrite and re-record of an old track called "Bombast" This new version I really like. However, it turned into a classic case of "beware what you wish for" - I was really pleased with how this re-working of the track played out and decided back in May last year to make it the title track. Even had a cool picture of a flying skull as the album sleeve - then the knee infection started in June from an "unseen real" and the flying skull nearly fucking happened!!!

10 - An Eighth Degree Of Separation. Another (and final) rewrite of an old track and my personal favorite on the album - this one written about 6 years ago. The original never came up to what I hoped to achieve, but this is much closer. A mid-temp 6/8 which seems to be my comfort zone for some reason. The e-bow sections I am very pleased with and made for a suitable long fade out end to the album. I saw Tanya Donelly use one at a show in Boston in 2007 and was inspired to buy one when I got home. I've loved those little gadgets ever since. Just wish they didn't break so easily - I think I'm on my 5th!!