"Work, work, work...work, work, work...work, work, work...hello boys; have a good nights rest?"  Lot's of work going on over here...not so much hanging with the "boys" but hanging with the lads is good too.

The album is getting put together slowly but surely with well over half the music written and solidified. Andrew has brought in a large piece as has Alex. We are going for a Diagramma-ish vibe here, using a lot of analog synthesizers and fewer traditional prog nuances (read mellotron and organ). We have been compared to Porcupine Tree before and that is probably a reference that will be used again.

Alex's piece is probably the strongest foray into that aesthetic and is quite exciting. He has written a nice guitar part too...very idiomatic with some nice natural harmonic melodies. Andrew has written an odd-metered latin-ish piece that is proving to be quite challenging to play. For my part I have brought several pieces in that use the simple machine motifs, but are all over the map stylistically. As we produce this stuff up I know there will be a consistent aural vibe that will unify some of these seemingly disparate elements.

So last night I had a bit of a disaster. I have a new studio buddy: WallyDog. He is a Black lab and very, very boisterous. Last night I put my guitar down on the couch and as he walked by his collar snagged one of the tuning pegs. He panicked and took off running, twisting the collar firmly around the peg. He scrambled out of the studio, into the kitchen and off up the stairs, dragging my guitar with him all the way. It is my favorite guitar; a Howard Roberts Fusion III. The guitar is a semi-hollow body and I was terrified the hollow body part would shatter on its wild ride through my house. It didn't. But it got LOTS of scrapes and dings. Two of the tone-volume knobs were broken off and two of the very cool finger style tailpiece thumbscrews were sheered off. The neck was unscathed (which was another worry) and for the most part disaster was averted. Wally was scared for hours (my shouting didn't help) but now, twelve hours later peace has been restored to the studio and my guitar, much the worse for wear is again being used for recording.