Photo by Salt Odelund – http://www.saltodelund.org

We are pleased to say that we have written the bulk of the songs that will make up our debut album, which we are at present calling “The Storm”.  We will be recording these songs in the next few months as time allows, and we hope to have the record with you by the end of the year, all going well.

I don’t want to give away too much, but we’ve been going in a somewhat different direction, without changing the Tenonsaw sound too much.  All these songs have been written on just two instruments, acoustic guitar and piano, most often started in something like the pose in the photograph above, and then worked up to a finished arrangement by the two of us playing them together.  The record is named for one of the first songs we wrote together in this way, that confirmed to us we were on the right track.  This song has become emblematic to us, and it and the title “The Storm” unite and evoke the themes of natural power, turmoil, light and darkness, destruction, mortality, hope and rebirth that tie all the songs together.

These songs are  written to be performed live just the same way we practice them at home, two instruments and one or two voices, with no extras (no drum machines, backing tracks or programming), so the focus is squarely on the song.  As we record them we will no doubt add more layers of sound to heighten the impact of the songs, but the core will remain our acoustic instruments and Salt’s voice, and occasionally my voice as well.

Subjects covered include (some titles are working titles and may change)….

The natural world and our interaction with it:
- The Drowned Forest / The Ocean Calls -

Salt’s operation and recovery:
- Better Hands / Hematoma -

Murder ballads:
- The Chapel / Avenging Angels -

What might be termed “Relationship songs”:
- Vow / The Seal -

Character sketches:
- Christine / Into The Light -

Songs about Life, The Universe, and Everything Else:
- The Storm / Slow Decay -

….and lots more besides.

Looking forward to letting you all hear these songs soon!

Tom.

“Disappear” available now at www.musicbytenonsaw.com!

“Years” is one of the songs featured on the CD single (and download album) of “Disappear”, out on the 17th through musicbytenonsaw.com

Listen to “Years” here now:

…and don’t forget to check back on Monday the 17th!

Press play to hear “Disappear” now:

The song will be available as an MP3 through iTunes and Amazon

There will also be a four song CD single available through www.musicbytenonsaw.com,
and the four songs will be available as a downloadable album.

Artwork and Track listing:

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1 – Disappear

2 –Knife In The Dark

3 – Portents

4 – Years

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“Disappear” was initially released on “Beginnings“, and is one of Tenonsaw’s more electronic recordings. The instrumentation is entirely programmed, but was originally mostly written on acoustic guitar, and the basic drum track was programmed on an iPhone.

The [lyric] is one half of an imagined conversation between lovers struggling to have an adult relationship, as unfortunately we all often do.  A video will be available on YouTube and our [Videos] page once completed (date to be confirmed soon).

The three B-sides are intended to give a wider view of Tenonsaw’s music.  These songs range from the oldest to the newest, from the most experimental to the most conventional, and from the most abstract to the most concise.  These are not standard “B-sides”, in that all three songs are strong songs with a lot of work put into them, and all three songs were planned as singles at different times.  They are being released now as a package to clear the boards for new songs written in our time away, details coming soon.

Release date and more details coming soon.

First things first, we are picking up where we left off.  We will shortly be releasing the third and last single from “Beginnings”, entitled “Disappear”.  The song itself has been around for a while, and you can hear it and read the lyrics here, but we have a couple of good b-sides recorded to make the package worth downloading in it’s own right.  Full details will be coming shortly.

While we were on hiatus (or sabatical, or whatever), we fell back in love with playing acoustic music together.  It was interesting to strip away the crutches of programming and drum machines that we had been leaning on.  Songs that worked with just an acoustic guitar and a piano became the aim, and they had to stand up on their own without embellishment.  We are in the middle of a productive phase of songwriting, and the songs that are coming now are very different to what we’ve done before.

We plan on recording these songs over the Christmas period, for release as an EP in the new year.  We already have a complete arrangement for one song called “The Storm”, which is the current working title for the EP, and 5 or 6 more songs are in various stages of completion.

We are also picking up the songs and recordings for “Hunters”, our debut album which we had planned for release in 2012.  We are now planning to release this in 2013, we’ll confirm more details in the new year.

So, lots planned for the next little while, watch this space and our Facebook page here for news as it comes.

It will be available as a CD priced at €5 (including shipping within Ireland and the UK, EU shipping €1 extra).

It will also be available to download, name your own price (or free if you like), and of course you will be able to hear the whole thing on-line anytime for no charge.

See www.musicbytenonsaw.com on Friday!

Thanks must be given to the wonderful Niall O’Sullivan who produced the session and contributed much advice, and to Alex Millar who took some great photos (including the cover shot) and helped us a lot on the day.

The Track listing is as follows:

1-Saviour / 2-Pact / 3-ASKOF / 4-Waves / 5-Pact (acoustic bonus track)