emmanoonanmusic

Halfway

31st July 2024:

Since I set my self a New Year target to write and record one song a month during 2024, I now have half of the songs for my next album ready to go!

Two weeks into the summer holiday, I caught up with Phillip at Appletree Studio, which is in the heart of the rural Aylesbury countryside, to work on the finished tracks.

Once again, I am in awe of his attention to detail with the arrangement and absolutely love the way he has added drum, bass and lead guitar to lift the tracks to another level. As all the songs have been written from a place of worship, in order to glorify God, it is important for me that the person who is producing the music captures the vision. As a Christian producer, Phillip totally gets both my musical style and the message I’m wanting to convey; his production has completely honoured this!

Two tracks stood out in particular for me: ‘Everyone who Calls’ and ‘From the Dust’. I wanted both tracks to capture a slightly chilled ethereal feel at the start, but to build dynamically to enhance the powerful lyrical statement in the middle eight. Phillip blended instruments and vocal harmonies well in order to achieve my vision.

So, what happens next …? Well, the plan is to drop a couple of singles before the album is released in the New Year. I also need to finish the remaining six songs by December, so that I can work on the final tracks during the Christmas holidays. I am spending the summer holidays writing and recording as well as taking a couple of weeks off to have a holiday!

Watch out for another post in the next few weeks when I will be announcing the release of my next single!

NEW MUSIC UPDATE

Since releasing Bricks and Mortar in October, and launching the album in November, I’ve been super busy balancing my work, family, church and song-writing life. I’m not sure how I manage to fit it all in, but the more I give, the more I seem to receive.

On New Year’s Eve, I set myself a target of writing one song a month. So far, I am on track …

January began with an instrumental track – Liminality. This was inspired by my love of Christina Rossetti’s poetry, which I had been teaching to my A Level students. Some of her poems deal with the theme of Liminality (the in between world). Many of Rossetti’s poems are deeply religious and she often reflects on liminal spaces, such as the space between night and day (twilight) as well as life and death. Liminal simply means ‘threshold’ – the part of the door that you need to step over to enter another space. This got me thinking about the liminal spaces that we often experience in our walk with Christ. One of the most powerful liminal spaces is when we meet with God in the thin place, which is a Celtic Christian term to describe the narrow space between earth and eternity. When we spend time in the presence of God through prayer and worship, we enter these liminal spaces where heaven breaks through. My track ‘Liminality’ reflects this deeply Spiritual place with its piano melody underpinned by layers of textured ethereal pads.

February, March and April’s songs are full-on vocal tracks, which are ready to go to Phillip, my producer, who will work his magic. I’m hoping to drop a couple of tracks in the summer with a full studio album early in the New Year … if all goes to plan!

Happy New Year! 🥳🥂

A Musical Blend

20th December 2023: Lunchtime Coffee Shop Live Music Session at The Atrium in Reading.

Located on the fringe of Reading town centre, The Atrium, a vibrant and stylish coffee shop connected to Greyfriars Church, provided the perfect retreat for customers seeking an escape from the Christmas shopping frenzy.

The coffee shop regularly hosts local singer-songwriters and musicians. Today’s lunchtime music session blended songs from my most recent album: “Bricks and Mortar” with a selection of Christmas carols. As customers took their lunch break, the live session created a warm and inviting ambiance for customers coming in to read, work or catch up with friends. It’s a testament to the power of live music to transform a simple lunch break into a relaxing, soulful space.

A Huge Thank You!

The ‘Bricks and Mortar’ album showcase event was a huge success. Thank you to the talented band, our incredible sound and lighting engineers, the awesome members of my church fam who helped with set-up, clear-up, welcome, compèring, refreshments, merchandise sales etc. Last, but by no means least, a huge thank you to everyone who supported the event. It was a very special evening. 🎶😘xx

One week to go …

Saturday 11th November 2023:

Don’t forget to book your free tickets for the ‘Bricks and Mortar’ album showcase on Eventbrite…

With only one week to go, I’ve been working on some final organisational details. I’ve never put on an event in my life, so I can honestly say that I am way out of my comfort zone! I am, fortunately, blessed with some really amazing members of my church family, and wider contacts, who have agreed to help out with: decorating the church, welcoming guests, organising refreshments, compèring, CD/merchandise sales, sound and lighting etc. – not to mention a bunch of awesome musicians! I’m relying on a lot of goodwill to make this happen and it certainly stretches a long way.

Apparently, it is a good idea to sell a bit of merchandise when launching a new album, so I decided to purchase some mugs with the scripture that has inspired the songs. I’m not sure how many I will sell, but it was really fun designing them and I personally love them!

The final preparations are well and truly underway and we have one more rehearsals to go. Even though we have been rehearsing since the beginning of August, I still feel we (or at least I) need more time, but at the end of the day, things in life are never perfect and sometimes you just have to go for it and hand the rest over to God.

After spending so much time recording, rehearsing and planning this event, it is easy to lose sight of the true purpose of my songwriting. All my songs are composed from a place of worship and it is through music and scripture that I want to communicate the love of God. My prayer is that on the 18th November, I will be able to put all my anxiety about everything that could go wrong behind me and focus on the true reason behind this event – to honour God!

Available Now

Friday 20th October:

Bricks and Mortar is now available on all online streaming platforms and CD available for purchase by contacting me through this website. Thank you to the talented Phillip Goss at Apple tree Studio for your awesome production as well as your soaring lead guitar riffs, bold bass lines and exciting rhythm.

CDs Arrive

Thursday 18th October 2023:

Everything is falling into place for the ‘Bricks and Mortar’ release date on Friday: press release written and distributed to various Christian music websites and radio stations; campaign plan in place to promote the release more widely; ‘Hiding Place’ lyric video is ready to go live; album showcase event on November 18th is coming together and CDs ready for purchase.

As an independent singer/songwriter, I have had to develop lots of skills from writing, arranging and recording music to video production, graphic design, marketing and event co-ordination. I absolutely love learning new skills and stretching my capabilities. The final part of this journey, the album showcase event, is by far the most challenging and daunting as it takes me way out of my comfort zone. Even though I am used to leading worship in a range of church contexts, I am not used to performing to an audience. Fortunately, I have a fantastic band behind me !

Album Release Date …

20th October 2023:

Highly anticipated album ’Bricks and Mortar’ will be released on all major streaming platforms from midnight on 20th October. The album, which was written from a place of worship, is a blend of alternative modern worship with a hint of indie-pop. Some of the songs are contemplative; others are more upbeat with a lively dance vibe. Many of the tracks are deeply personal; however others are reimagined from alternative perspectives taken from well known Bible stories. The lyrics are deeply rooted in scripture and my vision is to communicate the love of God through Jesus Christ.

The title of the album is taken from one of the songs, which is about drawing closer to God. The song is a plea to the Father to break through the bricks and mortar of the walls that we so often place around our hearts. It also draws on the album’s recurring motif of accepting God’s love, grace.

Album Photoshoot

Monday 28th August 2023:

With the album artwork nearly complete, there was one thing missing – a decent shot of me. A part of me would rather remain in the background, but as a person who is interested in people and stories, I felt that it was important to capture the person behind the music. It takes real skill to capture shots that bring out the subject’s personality – especially when the subject is photographically awkward, so you really need the right person for the job. Fortunately, I am really blessed to have a brother who works in the film and photography industry. Even though he mainly takes photos of still life objects and landscapes, I think he did a particularly amazing job. We also had a bit of help from my husband Andy (whose role was to make me laugh) and my niece and nephew – young people know how to work the camera!

All photos were taken on the Vine cricket ground in Sevenoaks – the town that was made famous after the Great Storm of 1987 brought down six of its seven oak trees. It is also the place where I was born and raised, so it was a particularly special place to capture some great shots.