Christmas Tails Overture, Will You Be My Snowflake Single

A super day of music work.

Started by creating an overture track for Christmas Tails. I needed a track that would be free to pre-buyers of the album, and one that acts as the free preview for browsers. It's an impossible choice to choose one of the tracks, which I consider equal, so this solves the problem. Like before, it's a medley which includes all tracks, but I with a church organ blasting out some festive sounding chords behind, where every chord seems to be suspended with Catholic cadences until the joyous C-Major at the end.

Then, work on a cover for my 'Will You Be My Snowflake?' single (with newly added question mark to the title). I'd already formed a sort of small album, with three tracks, and had thought about expanding it into 4 or 6, but then it wouldn't be ready until next year, by which time things may have changed and these may feel out of date. Up against a time wall I've decided to release them in mid-December.

The cover started with a photo of myself and some experiments with a snowflake fractal. That didn't work, so I tried a leaf brush acting as a negative mask and that looked rather pretty. Then text choice and placement. The whole thing took a couple of hours. The final touch was a star/snowflake sort of shape made using Genetica. Here is the finished cover:

After that, creation of the iTunes Digital Booklet (complete with lyrics), dividing the tracks, sending them for distribution, and the start of listing them in my catalogue. I still need to work on the sheet music and many other details; but that completes my 12th release of 2025, with The Modern Game already planned for the first month of 2026. A bumper year for new music.

In between I've worked on Christmas Tails a few times. This evening Andrew sent in a new version of his track, so the album is now complete. I'm awaiting a few small details for the filing process, and lots of background admin now needs to be done. Last time I filed it all with Musicbrainz, and will do the same here.

A last job of the evening was a two mile walk in the rain to collect my new router bits.

Christmas Tails Assembly

A full day of work on Christmas Tails, so much work. First working out the track order, setting the basic per track details and filing all of this. Then setting the master levels, and dividing the album into tracks. Plus, the visible track lists and lengths for the CD artwork, checking the lyrics. Lots of jobs.

One snag is the need for one 'free' track or one 'showcase' track, which is a key feature of Bandcamp. This was the reason I created a medley last time, a sort of overture. I may have to do the same here.

I listened to each track and checked the lyrics word by work as I listened. Amazingly (apart from my track, and Deborah's, of course) only one track, John Lindley's, had the completely correct lyrics. Each had at least one mistake, but one song clearly had 'first draft' lyrics with whole lines being different.

Here, exclusively for you good people, is the track list and order so far...

It may yet change. The release date is set for November 28th but people can pre-order it now.

Shelves Foiled, Mostly Modern Game Work

Awake for hours, ready to charge with great energy into routing my new shelves, on this, the warmest (well, mildest, at 11 degrees) and driest day for a few weeks. I woke early, assembled the wood, the hoover, rulers, and everything... but hit s snag. I'd not used the 12mm router bit, and the two that my father had used imperial shaft sizes - how I hate inches! The router comes with a few collets, but none would fit either of these, which is even more stupefying as almost all router bits come in a limited range of sizes. I sighed and was resigned to buying a new bit with the correct 8mm shaft. B & Q didn't have any (the very limited ones on offer, again stupefying, were also in inches. If I were prime minister I'd tax every device that features inches, pounds, pints, miles; it would raise money and help engineering). I ordered a set online, so must wait days, and now, my shelves which could have been completed today will take weeks. I should have tested the 12mm bit far earlier.

After that, a productive day of music. First, updating the cover artwork, and creating the 14 page iTunes Digital Booklet.

Here's the final cover (ta da!):

Then mixing the album again. In the night I thought it would be a good idea to release my Christmas song, and it's fellow two songs, as a single or EP now, rather than wait a year, so I've manically worked on mastering this. A single today has 3 tracks at most, but an EP 4 to 6, so I've toyed with making a new one. I looked at some existing songs and found a sequence inspired by Matt Gray's theme to Dominator on the Commodore 64. I quickly wrote some words on what this time of year is like; currently entitled 'Burn Me Cold':

Burn Me Cold

Dark dark November
Frigid in my bones
Everybody needin'
Money running low
It's a black white season
Don't I know

Windows are a leakin'
Saving up the mould
Give me some salvation
Dear dear Lord
And the screens that I stare at
Burn me cold

Later on, some initial mixing and track ordering for Christmas Tails. Work on that will start tomorrow.

Onwards!

The Modern Game 4 Continues, Shelf Marking

A full day of work on The Modern Game, 4th version. Created a new edit of the 'Masculinity Two' video for the longer album version, and new lyric overlays for 'The Games Played As Children', and added the new (much better!) vocals for this.

Then more work on the cover, small changes. I've mirrored the 'stave' image, placing it on the left. Then created the CD surface artwork, and more on the rear. Then small updates and fixes to the lyric booklet. Most of the artwork is now done in draft, though the images for the iTunes booklet remain.

Then final volume setting, for mastering, and lots more mixing and adjusting. 'Beyond Mars' gets brighter and brighter with each edit. The pianos are now brash and tinkly compared to the original mix; but they need to be, there are so few high frequencies here. There's more mixing to do on all tracks.

I still need to work on new videos for everything, though I hope that I can use the little animations I've created as Spotify Canvases. I expect it'll be 2 or 3 days work to make 10 or so videos, so this simple remaster will still take 3 full weeks, almost all of November.

Also today, work on the new shelves, marking out. The weather is set to rain and be very cold, so I must work on shelves tomorrow. Only 8 degrees, but still the warmest day, and so the best for spray painting. I have very limited resources here, and must pull the semi-dry work inside to dry after spraying. Steps: routing, spraying, assembly joint by joint, fitting to wall to mark and drill, final fitting.

The Christmas Tails tracks are all in. I need to organise these and master the album next week. This must, and should, take a day.

Just watched a documentary about Richard Burton. Inspirational, at any age, even as I approach the age at which he died.

Painting Repair, New Modern Game Cover, Deadlines

A busy day, as well as an angrily miserable one due to the dark weather, persistent rain and dark outlook. I was told yesterday that I was doing fine, as I had a legacy. For whom, exactly? I seem to be terminally obscure. From games, books, paintings, music; nothing is remotely popular or remotely valued. Well, all I can do is keep creating and trying to improve in my creations.

Started today by printing some photos from 2024 events. Then some work on a painting restoration job. I need to patch a torn canvas and repaint to cover the damage. It's a cheap cotton canvas, barely stretched and the wedges were not correctly used. I thought that a very thin cotton patch would be best, almost like silk. I found a white cotton handkerchief for this. I considered two main options for glue, either Paraloid B72 resin; an acrylic resin which is solvent based and archival, or PVA. Acrylic medium is possible, and stable, but it becomes waterproof and hard to remove. PVA remains soluble, and forms a hygroscopic relationship with the canvas. PVA can become mouldy.

I has a spare small canvas of the same material, so performed a test.

The B72 was my primary choice. It was difficult to apply as expected, with a mix of resin and acetone. The resin seeped through the canvas and left a thick hard gloss finish where visible. The patch was somewhat stiff when dry. The PVA discoloured the area with its water, but I expected that this effect would be minimal on a painted surface, and the result was a lot less messy. I chose PVA, using a 1:1 PVA:water mix, less water than in my test, then added a layer of Golden GAC400, an acrylic stiffening agent.

The result was good, though the tear in the painting remained concave, mirroring its shape from the front, as though the canvas was stretched and dented by an impact. This may be difficult to fix; removing any dent in semi-rigid fabric like this may be impossible, it's a bit like removing a dent in a sheet of tin foil. However, I plan on adding a thicker and stiffer patch over this, made from the test canvas.

After that work, I got to work on The Modern Game artwork. I like the Marius cover, so the main job is changing the name. As with Marius, I drew the name by hand. Here it is so far:

Then, work on the vocals for 'The Trees' and 'The Games Played As Children'. They are adequate, certainly better than the old ones, but I didn't feel in the mood and felt tired and restricted. I may re-record everything.

Throughout the day I've also worked on a new music pack for Flatspace, one for Another Violet Night.

It's now one day until the deadline for the Christmas Tails tracks. All of the tracks bar one were sent in weeks ago, and I'm still waiting for one. I have zero tolerance for people who miss deadlines. Deadlines are an excellent test of honesty and reliability. Not one minute's grace will be offered.

Singeth Sheet Music, CD Shelves II Begin

A slower day today which included a nice visit from a friend.

Several hours were spent working on the Fall in Green sheet music for our Christmas Tails entry, 'Singeth To The Body Winter'. It's a simple tune and took far longer than expected. It is in essence a string quartet, so it is scored as such. There's a clarinet in there, I may add that later.

Then, sawed some wood for 'CD Shelves II'; a second, hopefully improved, version of the first rack, which are too weak. These will use 12mm MDF throughout, have a vertical spine which runs from top to bottom, be spray painted before assembly, and have each joint fixed and glued once at a time over several days rather than all at once, with the aim of greater angle accuracy and less internal stress. The next step is the 12mm routing. I did the sawing today outside as today looks like the only dry day within the next two weeks.

Nothing else done, yet my to-do list is bigger than ever.

Another Violet Night Review

First album review:

“With Another Violet Night Mark Sheeky stands like an Easter Island head on the Cheshire Plain, a conduit of the passing ages but placed in the 21st century here and now. Songs to see you through, a flood of media and gadgets which define the now, to whistle defiantly as the familiar powers that be play on our paranoia.

On that windswept Cheshire Plain the sounds of Syd Barret, Depeche Mode, the Penguin Café and John Taverner, travelled the airwaves to the stone edifice of Mark Sheeky who was listening and absorbing nuances, gathering, mixing and adding his own identity.

Here are tunes and words to give courage in the predicament of a cruelly evolving world where defence comes in the form of show tunes and music hall with synth beats to accompany the disco of disaster.

In this instance the show tunes are an insight into the creative process where this is, the Mark Sheeky show.”

Peter Lilley, Nov 2025

Good Vibrations, Remasters

A nice singalong at the fortnightly Good Vibrations event in the library. I felt somewhat weak and exhausted and didn't play well, but the joy of these events is that it didn't matter, the music is part chaos but all joyous. Mike's leadership of each song is so vital. The after show lunches are becoming special events in themselves. We had a table of nine today, a record. We may need to start to book.

After that, lots of shopping for various winter related oddities like presents, spray paint, Japanese foodstuffs, old CDs.

As I've said to an interminable degree, I had hoped to complete a remaster of The Myth Of Sisyphus this year; with my plan of remastering one old album for each new one, but the change of distributor meant remastering a lot along the way for various reasons, so Sisyphus must wait! This should be no surprise, as I found out today that I've released a new (or remastered - which for me means partly re-recorded) album every month but one this year:

2025 Releases

Jan - Fear Of The Thing Itself
Feb - The Dusty Mirror
Mar -
Apr - Letters From A Square Spoon [new]
May - The Arcangel Soundtrack
Jun - Flatspace (The Official Soundtrack)
Jul - Finnegans Judgement
Aug - The End And The Beginning
Sep - All Controlled By Someone [new]
Oct - Another Violet Night [new]
Nov - Christmas Tails [new]
Dec - Tree Of Keys