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See No Evil, Hear No Evil, Speak Nonsense : (QUIVER 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY)

by The Retinal Circus

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1.
I'm Unsure That this pain in my life can reassure this new soul From distant shores Catch this orb, let it fizzle, let it crackle in a palm ~~ From seas we scurry forth - the bipeds of the hour Surface area, bacteria, bacterium And so carry on and endeavour to discover One more area, one more area, left to explore ~~ I'm unsure That this memory of life Can so often reassure And sure, for the rough to thrive then the smooth must be endured ~~ Still un...sure.. I’m unsure Like two birds instinctively flirting on due course Then in free fall Catch this thermal of intrigue it takes your hand and we soar ~~ From seas we scurry forth - the bipeds of the hour Surface area, bacteria, bacterium And so we carry on with a quiver for agar One more area one more area left to explore I’m unsure.. ~~ Nothing but a bunch of greasy Pentadactyls Pentadactyls Nothing but a bunch of greasy APES APES APES APES = Lying a scheming a thieving and dreaming Their apes apes apes apes Rolling up balls and then throwing their faeces - APES APES APES APES!!
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about

Some background, some bollocks... (like Phileas Fogg high as heck)

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Quiver was recorded by Hywel Payne and (myself) Craigus Barry in late summer of 2009 for release in October of that year. The sarcastic Divine Comedy esq' ballad about the hopelessness of love connections & realization it's all just organic process was written during a period of abject depression,to say the least.
One afternoon John Joseph Murray having heard me playing this song round our house at the time (Orly's,), excitededly announced it the best thing he had heard! This surprised me no end, so rather than entering the piles of discarded songs (I assumed it was destined for,) it was quickly put down to tape.
Shortly after I set about producing an dogg eared 8 track demo using theremin, a shitty charity shop keyboard, a basic drum machine pattern in 6/8, a knackered Telecaster, and there were some lyrical contributions from Shane Maroney. Then I went in search a suitable producer to bring this kitchen sink chamber pop (on a budget of 100 quid or so,) production I envisioned into reality. It became clear pretty soon, Hywel was up for the job, having already mixed and mastered Sea Horses In Zero Gravity.
He just wanted as payment a circuit bent alien voice changer ray gun made by a chap called Squidfanny. Not a problem!

We tracked down guides for live drums and guitars, all that no longer exist anymore everything bar the first count in muted harmonics was removed eventually.
A 12 string acoustic was added to emphasise the bluesy 'spoonful' / '18 With A Bullet' style doo wop bass line on the verses.
We also noticed that a pre chorus was missing DOH! It worked out fine tho. I added heavy tremolo soaked guitars (a Make Sounds Loudly Pan Tremoliser was used here, since had one built for me!) and a few other Telecaster parts that knitted it all together, along with overly ambitious harmonised falsetto (nope! not doing that again ha ha,) which later became beds of celestial padding. Oh, and some monkey impersonations happened somewhere.
Invaluable contributions came from a few quarters: John Joe Murray (AKA The Worrisome Ankle Trout of Johnny Kowalski & The Sexy Weirdos fame,) provided fiddle and some screaming.
Flo Rowland, recording her own EP with Hywel, provided a few more apes, and Philip Butler did a stunning job understanding the silly bass tabs that were sent to him (doh!).
Becky Rose was initially just going to play piano, but failed attempts to replicate the theremin line from the 8 track demo version of the tune lead to me just asking Becky to sing it! A hell of a commission haha but boy did she pull out the stops!
Everything else was Hywel - the dreamy B3 style organs, custom built pedal steel slide guitar, percussion, double tracked drum kits, an expensive pitch shifter, post production, the mix etc etc.
A lot of fun was had (you can hear this glimpsed in the outtakes mix Quiver Thru The Looking Glass,) no doubt helped by the shear volume of fx pedals between Hywel and I, plus Hywel's endless supply of rack mount units! There was also some general bashing the living shit out of percussion.
The final mix would be lost in a junk folder way past when it was done, but thankfully retrieved then mastered a few times!

Early reactions "It sounds like a Mr Bungle Bond theme" (Htrodwduc), "I like this sceince lesson in a song" (Derek Steele,), "Play apes!"..

All in all Quiver was something else, it also marked the point where I became a composer. Thanks all involved, you beauties! <3

credits

released June 8, 2019

Quiver studio stuff :

Me - Song, guitars, vocals
Phil Butler - Electric bass
Becky 'Theremin' Rose - Piano, Vocals
John Joe-Murray - Violin, Screaming
Flo Rowland - Apes
Hywel - Everything else!!
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1# is Hywel Payne alternative mix/master 2009 - long lost from the time it was burned to CD, just recently found!

2# Is Studio Neck master of the original "Extra Simian Mix"

3# Is a live performance - Ed Steelefox on Drums and David Headon on second guitar, everyone sings harmony!

4# is just mainly myself

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about

The Retinal Circus Birmingham, UK

CRAIGUS BARRY:
Onetime prolific singer songwriter turned multi instrumentalist composer. Films scored : Day Of The Stranger ( Darkside releasing 20), Senseless (Trash Arts 22),
Video shop Tales Of Terror (various 22)
Pocket Film Of Superstitions (23), I Curse This Land (24)

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Find my scores in the Discography
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