Track By Track: Jerome Alexander on Message to Bears' Carved From Tides

Having already received an 8 out of 10 rating in these very pages for what we called "a wondrous cosmos of sound through tender compositions and dextrous musicianship", we got Alexander to guide us through his beautiful new record which seamlessly combines the analogue and digital in a series of sumptuously arranged songs.

You can read Message To Bears' guide to Carved From Tides below, alongside an exclusive stream of the album.

Never Be

This was the first track I wrote for the album and I think it was always going to be the opener, I wanted it to be expansive whilst still being tight and beat-driven. It signals transition into this new piece of work.

Blossom

I was trying to finish off this track when the guy in the studio next to mine was working really loudly and there was lots of spill, his tune happened to be in the same key as mine and there was a sample of his that fitted really well with my track so I sort of 'borrowed' it, turning into the main vocal line. It features some improvised string parts by Tim Gill alongside the scored parts.

Breathe

The main chords and key changed for this so many times, there's probably 3 or 4 different incarnations with the only thing that's been kept the same throughout being the beats. I eventually just played the beats and vocal samples on loop over and over late one night and just jammed on the piano until it felt right.

Spin/Float

The original foundations of this are based on an idea about 3 years old, that never quite made the cut/wasn't right for the albums at the time I was working on. I eventually took out all the original chords, which were originally on piano, then changed to synths, and then I completely rewrote the entire chords on acoustic guitar about a week before mastering. I also went to visit my family in Bristol and got my sister to record some much needed delicate vocals to finish it off.

They Ran

This is one of only two songs I wrote away from my home studio, it's supposed to symbolise a half-way turning point in the narrative of the album. It features my good friend Justin Lee Radford on trombone which I think really lifts the track. The falsetto vocal part was recorded roughly and meant only as a demo idea, in the end I liked the timbre of it and didn't re-record it.

Beneath Our Snow

The underlying textures and percussive elements are from an older idea that I had a break from for about 6 months, I then came back to it's basic elements, improvised the recording of the guitar and the vocals before fine tuning them properly. The song became about being far away from someone but still feeling connected to them and knowing you'll be close again soon.

I'll Lead You There

The droning underbed is partly from a remix I did for my friends ALMA, which came on unexpectedly whilst I was writing the main guitar part, it went so well together by chance that I had to use it. I was having real trouble singing the vocal part to my liking, which was frustrating, my friend Will Samson happened to be visiting and so I asked him to sing it instead! It's about hope and moving forward together, taking what you can from the past.

When You're Gone

This is one of the earliest tracks but I think was also the last one to be finished completely, there was so much going on at times that I had to strip it down and let it be busy only at the right moments, which took a while to be satisfied with. It was quite scary having the vocals in the beginning so bare too.

Hold On

This was probably the quickest track to make from start to finish, I think because a large body of it was improvised, such as the piano in the beginning and also all the trombone parts which were by Justin Lee Radford again, the main repeating trombone riff in the second half basically makes the song for me. For me the tune encapsulates the end of a journey but with the hint that there is more to come.

Carved From Tides is out on Friday 1 July via Record Union.