A few weeks back we posted about our new way of working for this album – basically, instead of starting with an idea for a full song, Dan’s come up with a bunch of riffs, and we’re mixing and matching them to beats we’ve laid down and seeing where that takes us. It’s sort of like the Ableton Live workflow, but without actually using Ableton Live.

Anyway, here is one such riff (recorded on Music 2000 for the PlayStation):

Jethro Tull-style riff

(Try here if you can’t get it to play.) It’s a bit like something Jethro Tull might have come up with, and for that reason we think it may be a decent album opener. What we envisage is a slow, progressive, atmospheric, almost orchestral introduction that’s more of a soundscape than musical; then, we come crashing in with something like this:

Jethro Tull-style intro

This is just a work-in-progress demo clip (obviously), and the riff will probably end up on guitar rather than synth. What happens after the abrupt finish is anyone’s guess at this point, but we hope the feeling of a song boldly announcing itself comes through and that this is a fitting way to start an album.