"When we started writing these tunes I'd often start with a little musical idea and then some kind of visual story in my head around which we could build something more substantial.
I came up with this little riff on the cuatro sitting on a rocky beach in New Zealand's South Island in 2010 — it's really pretty simple, but I like the way there are a series of pushes in it which suggest the groove for the bass and drums.
The visual idea I had was a dusty well in the centre of a dusty square in the centre of a deserted dusty town somewhere probably in a sort of generic South America. I liked the idea of the square gradually becoming filled with people as the tune picks up and then everyone slipping away again once it's over."
from
A Matter of Life... 2021,
track released April 29, 2022
Composed by Arthur Jeffes
Published by Editions Penguin Cafe
Produced by Arthur Jeffes
Recorded and mixed by Jamie Orchard-Lisle
and Arthur Jeffes at Hippodrome Place in London, 2010
on a Trident Series 70 with EMT 262 plate, TLA 5013 dual valve EQ
and C-1 compressor with two Metric Halo 2882 and a Digidesign 192
Musical director Vincent Greene
Mastered by Zino Mikorey
Performers
Arthur Jeffes — piano / cuatro
Vincent Greene — viola / violin
Andy Waterworth — double bass / bass guitar
Rebecca Waterworth — cello
Des Murphy — ukulele
Neil Codling — cuatro
Darren Berry — violin
Tom Chichester-Clark — ukulele
Photographs by Alex Kozobolis
Based on the original detail from a painting by Emily Young
Design by Studio Torsten Posselt
Art direction Robert Raths
©+℗ 2022 Erased Tapes Records Ltd. All tapes erased.