Track by track

1. Animals
2. Lighthouses
3. Lighten Up, No Thanks
4. The Tsunami, The Tank And The Barcode
5. Shark In A Goldfish Bowl
6. J-Lo Is A Rich Materialist Bitch And Represents The Block In No Way Whatsoever
7. Sunlight On The Cemetery
8. The Future's What You Want It To Be
9. One Last Parting Shot
10. The Holy Texts

1. Animals A funky, bluesy jam about animals breaking out of the zoo and rebelling. This was one of the first acoustic songs I wrote and I enjoyed the change of scene writing a song with a cheeky bouncy rhythm. More info and background
2. Lighthouses Lighthouses started coming together in ideas in late 2007, but it was a while before it came together with the chords and the bright chiming riff. It's one of the main tracks off the album, mixing light and dark - the clean, melodic sound of the music with the slightly troubled personal lyrics - to make a determined song about identity and independence. More info and background
3. Lighten Up, No Thanks A cheerful, catchy, cheeky song about having the right to stay gloomy. Have you ever been told "lighten up mate, it might never happen!", when it already has? This song is for you.
4. The Tsunami, The Tank And The Barcode Slow-burning, riff-laden dark blues-rock building to a crashing crescendo. This track goes back to my gap year travels in 2003 - travel is great and I recommend it, but this song is pure disillusionment of the dark underbelly of global tourism.
5. Shark In A Goldfish Bowl Is synth-punk-acoustic a genre? It is now. A pumping fast-paced adrenaline-packed rock song about escape and breaking free of your boundaries.
6. J-Lo Is A Rich Materialist Bitch And Represents The Block In No Way Whatsoever 98 seconds of pure brilliant sarcasm, in response to J-Lo's claim that she's "still Jenny from the block". Are you Jenny, are you?
7. Sunlight On The Cemetary A calm, relaxing, chilled instrumental.
8. The Future's What You Want It To Be Low-tempo, catchy bluesy song about how the future's never quite what we expected, and how it's up to us to make it. More info and background
9. One Last Parting Shot Bittersweet, sweeping personal song about leaving Essex (UK) to move to Wellington (NZ). It tries to cover the elation and bitterness of leaving a place I've never cared for, but also leaving behind the friends I know and love.
10. The Holy Texts The album closes with a funky latin hipshaking groove with handclaps, like an acoustic jam at a ritual execution. The title refers equally to outdated religious scripture and the illiterate text messages of racists. From the xenophobic anti-Islamic fascism of hard right-wing groups to the executions and medieval punishments of Saudi Arabia, we have to fight extremism - wherever it is and whatever form it takes.