Theme from Psykos (2024)

I’m happy to say that I’ve uploaded a new Brother Frank demo onto Bandcamp. It’s a piece that I’m particularly proud of. Theme from Psykos is the opening to an imaginary Scandi noir tv series. Psykos is Swedish for ‘psychosis’; the track being an acknowledgment of the terrifying psychotic episode I suffered in September 2024. It’s still not something I’m able to write/talk about, but after a lot of hard work my health (physical and mental) has most definitely improved, although part of that has involved living in almost complete solitude. I have plenty of new material to work on and I’m getting better at recording and mixing, having realised that I can’t rely on anyone to help in those areas; I’ve scrapped the collaboration I’d planned as the price for having some extra instrumentation and possibly vocals on a track or two would have been too high – the musician in question was trying to control things to the point of undermining my confidence. I don’t accept that kind of negativity in my life any more.

A transmission of unknown origin

I’m delighted to report that Brother Frank is now on Bandcamp. The record is listed, of course, and available to stream or buy, but also available (for listening only) are two new tracks, I Don’t Know Why I’m Here and Feeding Frenzy. Both were recorded at home with a multitrack recorder and have a similar spacious sound to the single. I’m cheered by the fact that I’ve managed to learn some basic drumming, how to go about the whole recording process – the multitrack is an excellent device although inevitably has its own limitations (no reverb!!) – and how to create a Bandcamp site. The drumming especially has been physically exhausting, but I’m improving all the time.

On the writing front, I’ve begun going through the roughly half dozen ‘finished’ stories to see if they need tweaking before possible submission. Definitely ready to go is The Ladder Acrobat’s Ascendency To Heaven, which is, I think, one of the best stories I’ve ever written. As with many stories in the last several years, I’ve begun with a title and worked from there and with this story I wanted the kind of title a painting has. At just under 10,000 words, however, it’s much too long for most publications. We Only See Ourselves In Mirrors is making progress and who knows how long it will turn out to be? It appears to be set in Wiltshire – or possibly Carnac in France, another great prehistoric landscape, which I’ve sadly never visited. Charcoal (the screenplay) is still inching forwards, it’s an incredibly slow process due to the technical format, which I’m constantly referring to. I’m probably around two thirds of the way through the story. I shall be celebrating when the first draft’s complete.