Devon Sproule

by paul!

a sort’ve sloppy/moody but well-captured rendition of the shallow end from exclaim! tv. thanks for the support, guys!

good morning, person who is reading this.  i think ye olde bandmates must have stayed up for a while listening to some of manty’s records last night.  eleven am and i’m the only one downstairs. did i say manty?!  yes!  marker starling (aka chris cummings formerly known as mantler) has just joined us on the tour.  above is a photo taken by mr spike, our soundguy in oxford.  and here are some quick pix thom snapped over the last couple days.

this is us waiting to souncheck at the junction in cambridge last night.  if we look particularly svelte, it’s because we’d just played a hammering game of hackeysack, just there, in front of our feet.

here we are on the toppermost balcony of the tolbooth in stirling, looking at the city, down at the hopscotch and laundry lines, over at the pigeons.

soundchecking in oxford while steve gets the projector going.

soundchecking in cambridge.  our first night with marker starling!

 thom’s direction for this photo was “look uncomfortably out of place” but it turns out i was doing an alexander technique thing anyway.

before paul helped me fix it, the projector kept going to screen saver, so i sat up with it during chris’s set and had fun with monstrous manty in the background.  here are two of paul’s photos from last night.

 last night’s show in cambridge

last night was our last night with support from bernice.  unnnghhhh!  it’s been so good, so good for my singing, for my heart.  lucky for all that, they stay on in the band.  anthony’s visuals were especially dramatic and beautiful at the tin last night and davoud davies made the most of it with his camera (above!).  my first totally sober show in a while, just plenty tired from the long drive.  now today hanging with steve and kyla and valentino, rain on the roof, signing kickstarter cds, eating soup, watching movies.

en route from durham to stirling … the season seems to have changed all in one day.  cold wind, coloured leaves, gusts of rain, etc.  a bit of sun too.  went to the durham cathedral yesterday where danele and i lit a candle for her son ayden on the trip when she came over to see england and me & lucinda.

i’m reading ‘i me mine,’ the george harrison autobio/lyric collection.  he’s not my top top lyricist on paper but they fit so well into his songs and i admire the way he worked to be a peaceful person in the midst of all the ups and downs.

we stopped in a seaside town about an hour ago and all ran out on the beach — freezing!! — jumped and yelled for ten minutes, and then ran back to the van.  joe went so far across the craggy rocks, we had to get out my binoculars to see what he was doing.  then we watched cormorants (I think) diving like fish.  then we went to the co-op for snacks.  see if you can match who got what:

joe
euan
steve
thom
robin
paul
devon

foamy banana candies
multi-pack of kitkat for £1.79
soreen “deliciously squiggly energy” loaf
pot noodle
sour raspberry ropes
cashews
ham sandwich

thought i might tell you about the set?

(listen along here!)

shallow end – first time we’ve opened with this one.  it’s the closer from the new record. the chorusy sections are trying to channel the vibe of willow’s song from the wickerman.  it’s about taking turns being the strong one.

you can’t help it – “i’ve always wanted it, since i knew how to want, and i’ve worked so hard just to get this far.  the day they pulled you out, all of the stars lined up.  you knew the formula before they held you up.”

colours – mike o’neill, who I wrote the record with, wrote the main melody and refrain lyric for the title track.  originally, it was a moody sounding demo and you can still hear it in the lyrics of the final track, though the sound now is quite a bit jauntier.  there is worry and defensiveness, but also a plea to dig through the “stormy night” and the “fire inside” to find the “blue under the robin’s nest” and the “green to lie back against.”  it’s about seeing someone’s most genuine colours: not necessarily perfect beauty but natural, real beauty.

the fan – austin is still hot.  but there are margaritas.  and the winter, which is coming, is gonna be beautiful.

i’m out’ve shape on the hackey sack front but you wouldn’t know from paul’s collages, eh?

to be continued!

paul arrives!  anthony arrives!  we meet paul and anthony, sitting as strangers at a coffee shop on pollokshaw road, then we all drink coffee and show anthony a hard copy of the beautiful artwork he made for colours.  from there to queen’s park, walking through the leaves, ducks, anthony taking lots of pictures.  from there to the glad cafe (while our labelmates two wings head off for their turn with anthony) for an early soundcheck and early show.

on stage, watching robin sing next to me, i couldn’t help but imagine how exactly the same she must have looked as a little girl, her face so natural and naturally inclined toward singing.  and being sung to!  we sang her happy birthday and she little-girl-twirled in thanks.  grocery shopped on the way home.  steve and i cooked and burned two – count ’em – secret birthday cakes in a row.  after some careful scraping and nutella covering, all was well.  ended with a short dance part dj-ed by thom.

today i learned that ebullient can refer to bubbling water as well as bubbling people.  and i learned about sir walter scott.  and that they make wine on the baja peninsula in mexico.  i went there when i was little once and ate abalone out of the shell!  most excitingly of all, it’s robin’s birthday as of seven minutes ago.  to celebrate, we’re going to glasgow tomorrow and doing a photo shoot and playing an early show and then raising a glass or two!