Songs For Separation: Listening Notes

Album Title

Songs For Separation

Track Listing

Someone Else

Capture The Flags

Numb

Be True

Your Lighthouse

Signs and Symbols

Home For Me

Release Date

March 31st 2024

Availability

40 CD’s only, available by order from thelandingstage.net website.

What are Songs for Separation?

Following the successful release of Northumbria in 2020 two distinct yet interrelated strands of music began to develop, discussed here. The seven songs that would make up Songs For Separation emerged as one of those strands: deeply personal lyrically-informed responses to loss and separation at a time when the pandemic was making those feelings common to all, coupled with a renewed interest in classic song and arrangement forms.

How was Songs for Separation recorded?

Songs For Separation was recorded, mixed and mastered between August - December 2023 on the same equipment in the same way as Northumbria: on a 1978 TEAC quarter-inch analogue reel-to-reel four-track with all sounds and performances being generated by hand.

While the opportunity to shift to recording digitally was present after Northumbria’s release, a number of reasons informed this decision. Manufacturers, platforms and channels spread a narrative that specific kit is required to make and play music. What’s important is not what you’ve got, but what you do with it. Rather than wait until you’ve got the ‘right’ gear, I believe you get going and work it out along the way.

Also, although digital recording can offer options and ease these don’t necessarily promote personal, professional or artistic growth or the creation of great music. Creativity is the confluence of intent, engagement, resources and choices. Limitations drive creative solutions and decision-making far more than limitless options. Having only four tracks meant that everything that was recorded had to be considered in terms of context, performance and emotional relevance. I also wanted to push the limits of analogue recording so that no-one talked about how it was recorded, only about how good it sounded.

Who played on Songs For Separation?

All songs written and performed by Aaron Jackson

Additional drum and percussion parts on Numb, Your Lighthouse and Signs and Symbols: Simeon Moss (facilitated by Johnny Mac).

Describe the genre of music


Acoustic. Singer-songwriter. Melodic.

Album Art

Wild horses fighting at Sand Basin.

©℗ A. I. Jackson

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Origin(al) Stories was first launched to show some of the thoughts, decisions and processes that went into the writing, recording and release of the Northumbria album.

Following the launch of The Landing Stage, which brings together some of the things I do, I’ve continued adding to Origin(al) Stories.

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