Song by Song: 1) For the King In olden times a king would employ wizards to perform extra-ordinary tasks. Nowadays the king is a business, and the wizards are IT staff, but the dynamic carries on. I got musing on this topic and this song popped out. 2) Lately A lovely song about an unlovely subject - xenophobia, political bullshit, and the treatment of asylum seekers in Australia. 3) Ancient Hours of Sunlight I read a wonderful book by Thom Hartmann called "The last ancient hours of sunlight" (a poetic way of referring to fossil fuels). You can't really do justice to a book in a song, but this song tries to. http://www.thomhartmann.com/blog/2007/11/last-hours-ancient-sunlight 4) Calm Before the Storm A song about war and karma. I'm particularly happy with the arrangement for this one - it came out beautifully and powerfully I think. 5) Underneath Mermaids, guitars, firelight, stars, lighthouses; this song is about the things underneath the surface. I was knocked out with Bill Gibson's backing vocals on Bernie Hayes' songs, and used a similar technique here to good use on the chorus (Thanks Bill!) 6) Victory So named because the getting together of the arrangement for this song was a personal triumph. Marlboro Country theme meets Ennio Morricone somehow - this song ought to be a theme for something I reckon. 7) What You've Got Big pop number that starts off with a nod to the Beatles and ends up with some rather Bacharachian trumpet (an absolutely great piece of work here by Virgil) and vocals. Also features a bit of oboe played by yours truly, a recently acquired skill. 8) I Can Hear the Fields a'Singing Somehow I always picture "O Brother where art thou" scenery when I think of this one. It's about a man and a woman, science and nature and the contradictions therein. Features some amazing brass. Virgil kind of went berserk in the studio with this one and kept adding track after track of trumpet, flugelhorn and euphonium. Gen and I had no idea what he was doing but we trusted that he did, and I think the result is pretty great. 9) Day to Day Dream This track kills with its tenderness, and although the lyrics mix a few metaphors, I still love the way they go. The contrast between the stinging high violin and the brass choir on the choruses is really terrific. 10) Straight Lines Navigation, charts, sextants, dreams, vacuums. Nice brass! 11) Close to the Wind Lyrically inspired by the Carlos Castaneda books about peyote, magic and people changing form into birds and coyotes. This is the most ambitious song musically on the album, and it is quite a trip I believe. 12) Snout in the Trough Time for some brassy rock and roll, a la The Saints, and here we go with a song about the games people play, in particular the greed game. 13) Tip of Your Tongue Many years ago I went to see a clairvoyant who spoke of the guides who surround us, giving us little hints here and there, staying with us throughout our lives. Nice pop song here, methinks. 14) Behind Last but not least. A song about separation and connection. Majestic I think, especially in the last third of it, as the violin goes up and up and seems to never stop rising, and then the horns come in for the strength, and at last we go out with the beautiful harmony.