released August 19, 2019

Album written over the period August 2017-May 2019, inspired by people, places and a dearly departed cat.

Played on a Grestch Honeydripper Resonator & a weird old Japanese Teisco Bob had lying around.

Recorded at the Fern Tree Arts Hall by Bobby K onto TASCAM 4 Track Cassette at the foot of Kunanyi, Tasmania, 13th June 2019.

Mixed by Bobby K on old computer, June 2019.

Mastered by Laurence Valentini on new computer, July 2019.

Cover photography by Darren Stapley.

Album poster by Ellie Glen.

Thanks to the following for their help, guidance and love, you are all within these songs: Bobby K, Mum, Dad, Declan, Hamish, Sara, Kiera, Jamie, Darren, Sandon, Stewie, Tanaya, Jaw Jar, Callum & the Arts Hall Crew, Lorry, Jimi, Rob, Ellie, Ellen, Jackson, S, The Fine Legs (Revo Sports Winter 2018 Div 3 Champions!) & Sweens.

Dedicated to the memory of Sebastian D'Alonzo.

This one's for Mattcat.

LINER NOTES SHORT STORY:

Axel Carrington – 'Just Be Simple'

The hippo outstretched its enormous mouth and there, betwixt its teeth laid bare: a suited man, wearing an immaculate hat. The hippo made a gentle sigh as the man exited its mouth, steel guitar in tow. As the hippo gently laid itself to rest in the muddy banks below, the man ventured onward, through the soft dusk light.

The man, shrugging off hippo juice as he walked, reached into his pockets and revealed what looked like little thimbles and placed them over his right hand's fingertips. Slinging the steel guitar over his shoulder, delicately placing it in tune, he started to play. As he played, he thought of how he got here: he had been placed in the belly of a hippo, because he was lost, distraught, forlorn. He had hurt the people he loved the most. He wanted to give them the love they deserved. He wanted to be simple.

The man continued to play and continued to think about the people he loved. He started to play a song that brought forth a time in a previous life, where he had spent the day with a dear friend, indulging in little mushrooms that made the world wild and wooly. As he walked home that particular night, he thought of his love, who had just left on her own journey – 'A Lonesome Cowboy, A Lost Love', the simpleness.

He played further, his mind drifting. As he walked through this bizarre landscape, a vision appeared – a bin. This particular bin was emblazened with his name: 'The Axel Carrington Memorial Bin'. He had always told stories to people about his favourite bin & memories about an old silver galvanised trash can owned by his parents – but really, he had always used this song as an escape from feeling that he should be in the bin. The man had always struggled to be simple.

As he walked, he played on. He started to think about long nights, puncutated by encounters with beautiful souls. One in particular had continued to not leave his mind & wanting, so he tried to capture her spirit through song, her drive, her sweetness, her fire. 'Impressions of S', sitting on a swingseat, holding each other close, unsure of themselves but sure of that moment. Things got complex after this moment, but then, things were never that simple.

The mind continued to drift, towards a dear friend of his, a warm man, living in a cold, cold place. They had set up a tape machine in an old hall, exchanging many full-bodied laughs and full-bodied beers. 'Tasmania' resulted, a reflection on an old friendship in full bloom in a new place. It was as simple as he would ever feel, but it was ever fleeting.



The man started to think about those who had left this earth, his steps becoming heavier. He remembered a gentlemen, living in a small sharehouse, forever carrying root vegetables. He was gravely ill, but was ever gracious, accomondating, full of life. As the sun rose near a frozen lake one morning, the man wanted to remember him. 'Sunrise in Hyde Park' was for Sebastian, a man who knew how to be simple.

The man continued to walk, the light becoming ever softer and dimmer. He thought about his exit from the darkest depths of the hippo's belly and the brief time before his descent when he was able to love and be loved. 'The Halycon Days of the Hippo' was a chance for the man to remember this, even when he was struggling to escape. For those who've found themselves here, the struggling is never simple.

The light was fading and the man's steps were slowing. He finally allowed himself to think about the love that he had hurt the most. A love that had begun on a wet, wholesome night in the middle of a crazed camp. It was the beginning of the journey that had led him here and he would never forget that it began with 'A Stolen Kiss over an Empty Field'. They had made each other's hearts swoon. Before it became so painful, it was as simple as life could be.

And it was then, when the light had left, that he stopped walking. It was then that his heart hurt the most – all these people, all these places, were just floating, lilting through. There were times were he thought he wouldn't make it, when the simple seemed too hard. It was in these times, that a small ginger cat would meow, brush past his legs and gently rest on his form. 'Matthew' was always there, until he was not.

The man and his steel guitar fell silent. He was alone in a vast nothingness. He could feel his eyes welling, his body wanting to slump down into the void. But then, all these people, places and his dearly departed cat came flooding back. 'Is this what I walk on for?' he asked himself. He decided that it was. He wanted to be simple. For himself. For the loves that made him remember.

It was then that the man decided to keep walking and to keep his heart warm through the resonance of the steel guitar.

It was then that the man decided to be simple.