Studio, guest musicians and co-writes..

Hello,

There are things bubbling under the surface at the moment that make me happy to be creative.

The main thing I’d like to talk about today is my studio session with Cello on 2 tracks for my currently-being-record album…

Last month I headed down to Crosstown Studios in Liverpool to work with Jon Lawton again.  Love working with Jon, so chilled and interesting, great coffee and an ideal ear to bounce ideas off!   This time it was with the company of Luke Moore.  I’ve worked with Luke on a couple of occasions on Operation Lightfoot projects and he has many hats but in this situation it was as Cellist,  Cellist to contribute and weave some dark, beautiful string tones to 2 of my songs.   The songs most fitting for this – Riches to Rags and Say Everything Do Nothing.  It’s exciting for me to hear an instrument I don’t play adding sprinklings to my songs.  Strings have such a powerful sound and I came away from the studio very happy.    So, amidst conversations about zombies, Crystal Maze, Obstacle Races and coffee we put melodies and rhythms down to enhance, enhance, enhance.  I had lots of fun being objective about my music and I’m now able to stand back from these songs and enjoy the craft.  Being in the studio has to be one of my favourite ways to spend time, especially building my own songs. Onwards!

 

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NEXT UP NEWS!…….  I have another fantastic guest musician to announce on another song in the coming week for the album…. I’m going to sit on the details of this a tad longer but this song is on repeat on my phone at the moment and makes me smile 🙂 There will be details of this to come.

 

On a slightly different note…I did my first ever 10k Obstacle race last month called Wolf Run.  Loved it! So much fun, so much mud.  More more more.  This is my preferred way to defrag and get a body stretch and some fresh air, for this I’m grateful.

 

Stay creative

JO x

Making of ‘Sharks’ video & upcoming performance 25th November, Liverpool.

Earlier this week I headed out to meet with Luke Moore (my collaborator for Sharks with Operation Lightfoot) and Jazamin Sinclair (multi – artist and in this case, videographer and photographer..) to get filming our video for said song.  We wrote the song a while ago now and after piecing bits together are a step closer to releasing it! For this I am excited, I love this song.  After brainstorming ideas a couple of months ago and then Luke fine-tuning them,  we’re off…………

The morning looked like this… a coffee, chat, catch up and superfood salad… plans and directions decided, satiated and ready to go film….

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photo by Luke Moore

We ventured various places over the course of the day.  The trees, the beach, face down in the sand, avoiding statues, dogs and boats.  We squelched down dingy railway alleys and bin alleys in the dark, ran through doors and ended up in the cellar.   We had a giggle, drank lots of coffee and after 10 hours had enough footage to allow ourselves sleep.  I had an amazing experience working with these two folks. It was easy and fun, and we got stuff done.  I’m excited to see the finished edit and to premier at View Two Gallery, Liverpool on 25th November 2016… cant wait to share.

And this is what I looked like at the end of the day…..

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photo by Jazamin Sinclair

Creeping from the darkest corners of the cellar I present to you ‘SharksOperation Lightfoot featuring Jo Bywater’….the Teaser/Trailer/Taster of what’s to come your way this November….

 

Here are a few words from Mr Operation Lightfoot himself, Luke Moore..

“It’s been great to work with Jo again after finishing the track earlier in the year. In the video pre-production meeting we talked about a few things that we wanted to try out and put together the framework of how this might look and the footage that we got is even better than I’d expected.

We’re aiming to have the video ready to accompany us at the next Operation Lightfoot performance on Friday 25th November at the View Two Gallery in Liverpool.

The song and video, like the other Operation Lightfoot material, is a great example of how collaboration and working outside the usual comfort zone can be both a creatively enlightening experience as well as produce really strong results.

Jo has been a really strong co-writer, flawless performer and working with her from behind the camera was an absolute joy and I think we were both pleasantly surprised by what we achieved. I’d like to say a big thank you to Jazamin Sinclair, too, who has really done a great job so far and I’m very keen to work with as soon as possible”.

See you there!

Jo x

 

studio / album mixing pt. 1 / videos

The last few weeks have been inspiring…

Album recording/mixing pt. 1

There’s a lovely list of 12 songs all ready to make up my next album.  I’ve been patient this time round and have opted for letting this music marinate, sitting with it, making tweaks. I now have 8 songs pretty much recorded with some sprinklings from other artists to add to the mix and so a couple of weeks ago  I paid a visit to Jon Lawton at the new premises of Crosstown Studios in Liverpool for his expert ears and studio skills….

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with Jon at Crosstown Studios, Liverpool

The feedback was great, the coffee was flowing and I came away feeling very excited and like I can move on to my next chapter… watch this space, this thing has wings!

Operation Lightfoot………….

Last year I recorded a song with Operation Lightfoot called Sharks, I love this song, it’s moody and dark and comforting.  Lots of strings. Perfect. We wrote the song together and I’ve been excited for when we release it.  This is now getting closer and we are currently story-boarding a video to go with it. This will hopefully be out by the end of the year 🙂

Keep an eye on my website / social media for updates!

Until then

Jo x

Operation Lightfoot: studio times & Bay TV

2 fab things to sing about today!

Amazing studio time was had last Friday with Luke Moore and Jon Lawton at Crosstown Studios Liverpool. We began the recording of our song ‘Sharks’ for the Operation Lightfoot project.  For this we decided I would be kept away from the guitar, so, guitar skills are by Luke, my vocals and harmonica are currently in place in this dark little number.  The thing that has MOST excited me about this is the strings.  THE STRINGS.  I can’t wait to share this with everyone once it’s finished!

 

 

AND

Last month I went along to visit Bay TV Liverpool and recorded a live session of 3 songs (Riches to Rags / Graze / Chopping Wood) in their TV studio.  Really chilled experience and I’m really happy with the final outcome.  The session was aired over the weekend and below is the vid for you to peruse at your leisure.  You’ll find me on Episode 46 The first half is Daniel Saleh and at 11m34s you’ll find me ready to go… Enjoy!  x