The latest Folk Radio UK session is from Stephen Burch, better known to most by his stage name The Great Park, a name I first came across after stumbling across Woodland Recordings, an independent DIY music label, founded in Brighton in the south of England but now based in Germany. As well as releasing music which is wonderfully packaged they also arrange concerts for musicians in Europe. Through them I’ve been introduced to other great artists including the likes of The Diamond Family Archive, Birdengine, Thirty Pounds of Bone and Fee Reega.
I could talk at length about this inspirational label but today we’re interested in The Great Park who recorded 5 tracks for this FRUK session which includes a brand new track…he had this to say about the session:
All these songs were recorded with two microphones, first take, with guitar and vocals played together. That might sound obvious, but the point is that I tried to approach this recording as if it were going out ‘live on the wireless’. I don’t get to do that very often and I find it useful to set up a situation where I might still be surprised by what comes out.
So I recorded these songs in my office in Nuremberg, Germany one chilly lunchtime in January 2014. I’d written the words to the song ‘Exeter’ only that morning and was interested in how it might sound. I’m not sure it will always go like this but this is how it starts. The others include two tracks from recent releases that I’d never played since recording them, plus two from albums recorded 4 years previous and played live countless times. Those are the ones with choruses.
Right now I’m struggling to write an album, so it’s great to just set up a couple of mics and make some mistakes and play some. Thanks for that.
Find out more about Woodland Recordings here
Photo Credits: Main photo – Simon Osten; Soundcloud cover photo – Vasilis Bibas