I'm pleased to announce that my new album, Confluence is now released and available. It's a collection of piano instrumental songs that have been recorded over the last 5 months.
A bit of a story about Confluence, the reasoning behind it and why I recorded the album:
For me, playing piano is the perfect way to wind down and disconnect from all that's going on around me. I'll often just sit and play and 'see what happens'. This has been a particular help during the recent months of lockdown, where I've been able to completely shut off from the world and soak in music. This album is a musical diary from the last 5 months, and many songs were recorded when I was especially tired both mentally and physically. My particular favourite song was recorded at the end of an extremely challenging day, but I'll let you decide what you think that one is!
There are 6 songs on the album and they are all 10 minutes or longer, which is perfect for switching off / meditating / chilling out etc. I've also recorded the album in 432hZ tuning, which is the healing frequency so I'm told. The tracks are:
Confluence
Adrift
Deeper
Apogee
Aurora
Twilight
Feel free to message me if you've got any questions about the album or individual songs. I hope you enjoy it! Here's some links:
http://itunes.apple.com/album/id1517006013?ls=1&app=itunes
http://itunes.apple.com/album/id/1517006013
https://open.spotify.com/album/1D4VQ1Cre9hFnHd1lG5OkG
spotify:album:1D4VQ1Cre9hFnHd1lG5OkG

Well, it's been an exciting few months. The CD has been finished, and as you will see from our store page, you can order mine and Bonita's albums direct. Our albums are also available online in most outlets that we can think of.

Over the spring bank holiday weekend, I went up to Broadwater Studios in Newcastle to record some acoustic versions of some of the songs from my album. This was an amazing experience, and I'm very much looking forward to sharing the videos with you (hopefully they will be available very soon). I really felt that it was important to record my songs acoustically, as whilst I loved doing my album, the acoustic stuff truly reflects what I'm all about.

I'm contemplating recording some Christmas songs soon, ready for the end of the year, which could prove interesting in my studio (singing carols in flip-flops and shorts)!

Hopefully the next you will hear from me will be when I post my acoustic videos.

Thanks,

L8

Hi. It's been an intensive few months in the studio, but things are really starting to look good now. When I started the recording process, I still hadn't written enough songs but I knew that was all going to be taken care of, as I knew that new material would come at the right time. To be honest, the process of getting the recordings done of the stuff I already had was a huge task, and very time-consuming (but also extremely rewarding), so I was never worried about the fact that I didn't quite have enough material (only 7 songs).

The whole recording thing has been a solo affair (not intentionally), and it's been a real labour of love. I've had to really get to grips with building songs from scratch and piecing all the parts together like Lego. As I'm not a very good drummer, I begin each track with laying down a drum machine so that I've got something to play along to (and make sure I keep in time). I then record the principal instrument, usually either the keyboard or acoustic guitar, depending on which instrument leads the song. My next step is then to record the lead vocal, which is surprisingly difficult to keep in tune and time, and often takes me several attempts to get it right. Once I've done this, that's the difficult bit complete, and then I spend lots of time adding additional tracks and additional vocals to fill-out the song. Some of the songs have loads of vocal parts, and it's really challenging to make sure each part sounds correct when added to the mix (Your name is higher has 9 vocal parts)! Once I'm happy with the mix, I then send it off to Dez at Broadwater Studios, who then carries out the impressive task of mixing it all together to make it sound a lot better than what I can. The final job once we're happy with all the tracks is that it gets mastered (which I've had explained to me, but sounds far too complicated for me to cope with).

Anyway, the last 3 songs.
I ended-up one day a number of weeks ago just randomly playing on the piano. I was so immersed in the music that I really felt I needed to hit the record button and see what happened. As a result I ended-up recording a very chilled-out piano version of 'A child of Yours', which was totally unplanned. A couple of weeks later I had a song in a dream. I woke up singing the song, and I'm really sad to say that I ended-up staying in bed because I was so tired. Once I woke up again, I'd forgotten it. 3 weeks ago the same thing happened, a different song this time, and I made no hesitation in getting straight out of bed and recording a very rough draft on my phone. That song has now become 'All the glory', and you won't have heard it yet, but will do very soon! The third song is the title track of the album, and it's called Waterfalls. I wrote the music to it over 2 years ago, but never had any inspiration for lyrics until a couple of months ago. I really felt that the lyrics were being drip-fed to me, with particular focus on Psalm 42:7 (no surprises there)! That one is now complete, and again you'll be hearing that one soon.

So, I have 10 songs written, 9 are recorded and I'm halfway through the 10th. I think I am only now a few weeks away from having the finished article, so I'm now getting really excited. Watch this space!

Thanks for reading,

Leighton

I've been spending some time and money setting up a home recording studio, and I'm pretty pleased with it now. The recordings I posted on my home page were done on GarageBand, using a very old computer, and I think it affected the quality of the recordings quite badly. So, I've invested in a new iMac, Logic Pro software, and lots of acoustic foam! Fortunately, I've been able to use Cameron's old playroom, as he doesn't like the fact that it's too dark for him - perfect for me though.

I'm still very much a beginner when it comes to using the software (and certain musical instruments), but it's been exciting seeing my songs unfold. It's also been scary to see how easy it is to sing out of tune, and recording vocals and particularly harmonies has been quite a challenge.

I’ve been hearing a lot said about Theology lately, and particularly discussions about what is good theology and what is bad. That got me thinking about what actually IS theology, and what does it mean? Being a simple Devonshire lad I decided to have a trawl through the web and find out what I could about the subject. What I found out is that it pretty much boils down to two points. Firstly theology can be described as ‘Analysis and argument of the bible to help understand and test our own religious tradition’. Secondly, quite simply it’s the ‘science of God’.
 
Immediately I realised that the above two definitions could potentially disagree with each other. Science is definite, but using this to understand ‘our own’ walk with God suggests that different people could have different theologies? Psalm 139 shows that we are uniquely made, and therefore we could interpret the bible differently from others. For example: I love blue cheese, but my wife hates it. We both have the same taste buds and digestive systems, but we interpret that food in our mouths in very different ways indeed! In fact, going back to reading God’s word, I can read the same passage multiple times over different occasions and always glean something new out of it, and I guess that’s just God trying to tell me what He wants me to hear on that particular occasion? Can we therefore have different theologies as Christians? It’s an interesting thought.
 
I then got to thinking about the science of God. Everything we need to know about Him is written in the bible, and therefore is up for intense study and scrutiny (which many people I’m sure have carried out this task in much more depth than me)! But surely is science a term that I would use to describe my heavenly father? I could write a book about myself, detailing every single thing I have ever done, my life story, what food I like, what clothes I like, what winds me up, what my first day at school was like, what I had for that Chinese takeaway the other night, and the list goes on. Someone on the other side of the world could take this book, and know everything there is to know about me, but would they actually ‘know’ me? Of course not, because the only way to know me properly means that you actually need to have relationship with me (and regularly over a long period of time).
 
God is no different. Our walk is based on relationship as well as knowledge. How can He share anything with us if we’re not listening to Him in the first place? He is always there for us as a friend, and very much wants relationship with us so that we can benefit from the riches of His grace. Romans 5: 8-11 NLT clearly shows the importance of friendship and relationship:
 8 But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners. 9 And since we have been made right in God’s sight by the blood of Christ, he will certainly save us from God’s condemnation. 10 For since our friendship with God was restored by the death of his Son while we were still his enemies, we will certainly be saved through the life of his Son. 11 So now we can rejoice in our wonderful new relationship with God because our Lord Jesus Christ has made us friends of God.
 
In conclusion, I believe an understanding of God and the study of His word is essential, but not at the expense of a good strong relationship with Him. Likewise, it’s not all about relationship with no understanding. There has to be a balance between theological knowledge and relationship with our friend and father.

Thanks for reading.
Leighton

The month of September has been amazing in that there has been a real acceleration with the new songs that He has downloaded to me. I'm also getting used to playing around with GarageBand, recording my own stuff at home, which is quite time-consuming, but also loads of fun. I've uploaded 3 songs so far, although they need some tweaking (a couple of things I'm not happy with), but at least I'm able to share them with you.
I've got 3 more songs to record and upload when I get the opportunity, so hopefully you'll be able to hear these soon? This recording takes a while, as I'm having to play each instrument individually to gradually build each track up from scratch (making loads of mistakes in the process)!
I'm praying about the next few months, but at the moment I'm feeling that I may possibly be going into the recording studio in the New Year to do the songs properly. I'm very excited about this, and am looking forward to what God has in store for me over the coming months.
I look forward to sharing more stuff with you.
Leighton

It's been a difficult few months, but through it all I've really felt God doing some amazing things in my life. My songwriting has been something that has really only gained momentum in the last year or so, which has been very exciting but also a bit awe-inspiring!
I first became a Christian in May 2002, and within a week of making a commitment God gave me a new song. I was very excited about this, and so straight away I wrote it down. I played it to a few people, and most liked it, although I feel a made a big mistake by focusing on those who weren't that keen on it. It knocked my confidence a lot, and as a result I locked away the gift God gave me into a box, which wasn't going to be opened again until 2014. Obviously God has a purpose for everything, and I believe those 12 years were used for other reasons to prepare me for the season we're entering into now. Certainly the time between 2002 and 2014 was incredibly exciting, but also scary and emotional, and I totally believe it has shaped me into a stronger person.
I wrote my second song (Your name is higher) in early 2014, after being inspired by a member of my worship team who is such a gifted and amazing worship leader. Strangely enough I once again focused on the smallest particle of negativity from people, rather than the encouraging comments, and did nothing further for another 6 months. It was finally towards the end of 2014 that I finally heard God saying to me 'How many times are you going to focus on people rather than me? What is your purpose for writing these songs - are they for me or are they for people's affirmation?' Of course, the burden of doubt was lifted off me and I was able to focus on God's purpose for my music - to glorify Him.
What happened next was very exciting indeed, and water had a very important part to play in all this! Psalm 42:7 says: Deep calls to deep at the roar of Your waterfalls; all Your breakers and Your waves have gone over me. By the day the Lord commands His steadfast love, and at night His song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I started getting more songs, and virtually all the time the sound of water was present. Incredibly, one day whilst having a shower, a song that I'd never heard before came into my head and I started singing it. I realised I needed to stop everything and get it written down before it went away again - and so the song 'A child of Yours' was born. Exactly the same thing happened 2 weeks ago when (with wet hair) I wrote 'You are good'. Funnily enough it's amazing how many people sing in the shower, and I believe this is one of the times when God really has our attention, and we feel free to just open our hearts to Him (often without even realising it).
I am thankful to live by the coast, as it means I'm constantly surrounded by water and the sound of it, which proves to be a great inspiration and comfort. Be encouraged that God will use any situation to talk to you, no matter how bizarre you think it might be.
Thanks for reading.
Leighton