As usual, I’ve been pre-occupied with my mum’s situation.
Thankfully, things seem to be working out reasonably well for her so far. She’s home and receiving visits from carers, four times a day.
The care company staff appear to be thorough and, well, caring, and worth the cost of the care package. Her mobility is still fairly limited, basically walking, (with assistance from the carers and a Zimmer frame,) from her bed in the dining room to her chair in the lounge where she spends the major part of her day with a blanket over her knees, watching TV and receiving visitors. It’s a great improvement from her condition when she was in hospital though, and it’s a relief to see her regaining, to some degree, her confidence and mental sharpness.
Here on the home front, things have been a little difficult. There’s been a noticable downturn with my eyesight and my regular hospital visit and scans last Tuesday confirmed this.
The doctor said I needed injections in both eyes this time, which is never welcome news. But, I’d expected as much as my ability to read and see clearly has recently become more problematic than before. (And it was pretty problematic to start with.)
The real worry came the day after the injections though. I was concerned with the appearance of dark, spidery lines at the edge of my vision in my right eye, as if I had a number of ‘hairs’ obstructing my vision. These dark lines seemed to sometimes float from the edge of my vision to a central position, albeit briefly. What also was worrying was a flashing light that moved around my eye when in a darkened room. All of this became apparent on the Wednesday after the eye injections, but I thought it might just be a reaction and would resolve itself.
The next day, (Thursday,) however, the condition was exactly the same. There was no chance to deal with it though as I was scheduled to take part in a filmed interview about my soundtrack for the ‘80s movie ‘Dream Demon’ which is shortly to be re-released in a digitally remastered version.
Two guys from the company in London involved in the re-release had booked tickets to travel up to Yorkshire to interview me on camera, so it was impossible to postpone the interview.
The movie, (by director Harley Cokeliss,) and my soundtrack to it, was created 33 years ago now and, to be perfectly honest, it was a struggle to remember much about how I came up with the music.
Most of the soundtrack is made up of ‘ambient’ atmospheres, all keyboard generated. I recorded it in my ‘Echo Observatory’ studio in Haddlesey House where I lived at that time. The simple analogue equipment I had at my disposal back then was very primitive compared to the newest digital software systems, but after all these years, it still sounds reasonably compelling and adds to the surreal and twisted nature of the film.
Here and now though, I’m still working on the recordings that will emerge as ‘The Navigator’ album, sometime later this year. Slowly getting more familiar with Cubase though still frustrated by it.
I’ve also selected, at random, one of the many archived albums that have been awaiting a release, and ‘The Jewel’ will be the next one. It has now been mastered by John Spence at Fairview studio, and I’m about to begin the process of putting some artwork together for its packaging.
The album was actually recorded in 2016 but has laid dormant for some years, (as so many other unreleased albums of mine have.) It’s an instrumental album, not exactly what I might think of as ‘easily accesible,’ (though I’m sure some fans will disagree with that statement.)
It’s an album of abstract guitar improvisations with ambient jazz interludes. Hopefully an album that will slowly worm its wicked way into listener’s ears.
Not sure, at this stage, whether to release this album as a physical CD or as a Bandcamp digital download. To a certain degree, it’s a ‘niche’ album, one that will appeal to fans of my more introspective guitar work. It’s certainly not a ‘rock’ album. Nevertheless, those who enjoy less mainstream music may find that it resonates with them.
And now I’ve spent far too long typing out these words, struggling to see the digital ink on this virtual page, so I’ll post it on my website and then get on with some recording. A new track to mix tonight.
