Raging, focussed, brighter better...

Hello sweeties!

Just writing to say

that my love has come home again

from recent work trip

and the world now is completely

right!

That rays of light

are a brighter bright

against my face,

and my mind-

is the more creative

and smiley for it.

*

Also.

I have been completely smitten with a certain YouTube Channel... {I do that.}

It was insisted, several months ago that I purchase a copy of Imogen Heap's new album Ellipse - by one of my favourite little she bloggers... So anyway, I did - and I have loved and lapped it up from one song to the next.

But her YouTube vBlog of the making of the album - EEEEKKK! Never was I more excited and inspired to follow something!

I must tell you, it's what I needed. I am officially spurred on to finish my demos, and get new songs to recording ready. To make this little beauty of an album {which at the moment exists solely in my own head!} and stop worrying about the things I can't do - and just quieten down my raging spirit, & focus on the making of art! Today! The making of my new album.

And yeah, you're gonna stick around for the journey aren't you?

Video Blog coming soon...

Shell {songsmith} xx

a Happy Birthday to my Love...

By best friend Jamie, turns 33 today.

We met when he was 18, and I was only 17.

We've had the privilege of growing up together, and remain best friends to this minute. So upon his earthly birthday I decided I would write him a dedication/celebration song.

Handmade music, right here...

I hope it conveys to you, my love and my message.

Shell xx

In the tiniest of ways...

We are still enjoying the rain here,

with it's leaky windows and perfect puddle jumping weather!

*

The rare occasion of being stuck indoors has led me to much piano playing,

and deep thinking at the computer,

which this morning led me to a most wonderful insight from the Lord.

And I wrote it a song.

Then realised I was writing with a blue pen that belongs to a most special friend, who must have left it behind last visit - and with it some of her smiles - for it has been a great companion to me at the piano, and aided me with my own inspiration.

Please know dear friend;

that little blue pen is in excellent health and her ink is still the perfect shade of blue-ness!

Her new owner is treating her very well, and she will see you next week!

Shell xx

The oak and the acorn...

"...Even the name of the Savior uttered in her singing tone and with the expression she gave it, came nearer to them than when she spoke it..."

"How many things there are in the world in which the wisest of us can hardly perceive the hand of God! Who not knowing could ready the lily in it's bulb, the great oak in the pebble-like acorn? God's beginnings do not look like his endings, but they are; the oak is the acorn, though we cannot see it."

-excerpt from The "Geltlewoman's Choice"

by the wonderful George MacDonald

Shell xx

Love you, and leave you...

[a cousin's birthday balloon party on the trampoline on a summer's eve - does it get any better?!]

Tis the summer that really makes me love and feel Australian. And though I don't give a hoot of credibility to the unfounded theory of climate change; this summer has been a hot one...

So it's a shame to see it starting to wind down for another year. I noticed today that the sun is setting just a little earlier, and with it my thoughts are turning to ideas of autumn activities and clothes and colours.

My creative moods are very much inspired by the seasons, and I love the different aspects and inclinations of each one - songs I write in the inferno of an Aussie summer are very different to the ones I will write in the throws of a marino woolen, scarf-clad wintery day. I think about friends I have made who live the other side of our equator who are deep in wintery snow and cold right now, and I think how wonderful it would be if I could take the concord up and across to see them and experience the chill, just for a change, just for a day, or two!

Okay, so this post is lacking a point, and an air of excitement I know! My friend has flown away today to a foreign place to work for two weeks, and I miss him very much already. But a little longing and despair will work wonders in the songwriting realm for me I dare say!

So without much of a point, or an anthemic chorus to end, I will love you and leave you, with an excerpt from one of my favourite and most enjoyable times in my very fortunate professional life... Recording, and all the fun and fury that goes along with it.

...and yes, the man lying on the floor playing the bass guitar is my husband! My friend.

Shell xx

From heart to song...

I took you.

From lounge room to studio.

And soon to you.

Shell xx

My Song is Love...

...for Australia Day 2010.

Shell xx

Dear Charlie...

To finally bring Charlie to film is wonderful to say the least - and a lot of other things...

A song I wrote on the pianola in Mum's lounge room,

after Sarah told me she liked said name...

Charlie has been my muse, my tragic creature, my real life & imagined hero...

And now he is my latest film-clip-video-baby adventure!

I want to thank Kate, Sarah, Anna & "Scottwell behind the mirror"

• for attention to everything important,
• artistic ability unsurpassed;
• enthusiasm {for my foolish schemes} galore!
• And just really, more thank you's than a day could hold for letting me prance around {like a big curvaceous purple woman in front of camera} all day!

What paradise would be - to do such all day, everyday anon!

Songsmith {and friends} xx

Adventuring for Arts sake...

Not behind the lens today, but in front of it...

On the set of a new film clip...

Among long green grasses, and the plentiful, purple, poisonous Patterson...

The lens flattered me (a miracle of science!)

And provoked me -

Ever eager am I to show you the adventure, and the art we began making today...

{All photos today taken by the wonderful Anna}

Shell xx

From where I sit...

Once I heard Michael Jackson say - (when asked what he thought about on stage) answered;

'Oh no! You don't think - if you think about it you'll only lose your nerve..!'

And so I have found a job where I am allowed just to feel,

Required to be emotional!

& paid to be outrageous!

Bliss!

Songsmith xx

Can't Seem To Sleep...

I wrote it early one morning - based on a dream, a thought, a whim and a whisper...

I had it chosen by Richard Lush for the album...

Recorded in the top studio, and now here; is where we gave it a visual life...

My Daughter Emma on Set {pink}

My Directors, Mentors, Sisters & friends Kate & Sarah mapping out my poetic path through the rushes...

Songsmith xx

To Creative Competitors -

I thought, on this wonderful Australian Spring morning, I would share a clip from a most magical time spent recording at Studios 301 in Sydney. This is where we recorded the album from which this little blog was named...

The song is called Outside Looking In, & though I love it - it never made the final cut on the album - however we did pop it on the Fall Too Hard EP which you can get from iTunes.

And - I have decided to launch my very first competition on this wee blog!

I will send a free signed copy of the EP {anywhere in the world} to the person who leaves a comment telling me the most interesting, descriptive and {possibly} amusing song review!

Give me your honest thoughts on the song and how it makes you feel, and I will get out the stamps and get-a-posting!

With Love,

Shell aka Songsmith xx

So Far Away...

Sometimes when love, distance and patience overcome me, I turn such energy into a song.

But today, as I await the arrival of my friend, home from his long journey - I know that the most perfect song about love, distance and patience has already been written!

I give you, the true Songsmith - Carole King. And I shall play this today, until his return.

Shell xx

Bluer...

I have been watching spring beginning, from my Sunroom window. Sun getting brighter, sky, bluer.

I've been sitting at my piano writing instrumental pieces; somedays you feel too much, and words aren't sufficient means for expression.

I have been listening to the small still voice, showing me every curve of the happenings, letting Him show me where I can help and where only He can help.

I've been feeling we're on the cusp of a new season, in so many more ways, than one.

Shell xx

In My Living Room...

Up late.

Finished watching Carole King's In My Living Room concert.

Put the {go on have one more} kettle on,

Settle in to write some poetry -

turns of phrase, deeper than {everyday} thoughts,

already were swirling around my head,

But now such clarity-

In the {all four children asleep}

section of my day {night}

I come wholly alive.

As a creative spirit.

Handmade songs spun here.

Songsmith xx

As promised...

...I have posted my very newest ditty onto the little music player

{left of your screen}...

It is just a little spur of inspiration I had on Monday, a consideration of youth, fragility, and vulnerability ...as promised, it was recorded 

last night in hope that you might take a listen.

Nervous...

Mechelle Tully 

Nervous, habits in the morning, before,

I am getting on the train,

To see, to see you again, I hope I can,

keep it together, not be too -

nervous,

is strokes of colour like, 

Purple & Blue…

And I’m chewing on my pen,

And I’m drawing in the sand,

And I’m holding out my hand -

To you.

I am making it available as a free MP3 download from Reverbnation

so you may listen at your leisure and tell me what you think!

Songsmith xx

I am song...

Its a little ditty really.  But I wrote it last night, and have had it in my head all morning.  I shall go to my studio a little later today and see if I can capture it.  I am thinking of posting it here for you all to hear - as sort of a preview of what I have been writing/recording over the past months.

I wish it was like a picture, 

that I could paint and sell,

I project, a portrait,

a necessity, a revolution!

But it's not.

It's just my heart, for sale.

Or perhaps pieces of it,

Given out in sonic,

waves of poetry, memories, 

With pieces of brilliance!

and others that just mean a lot to me,

In any event - they are (and so too am I),

Yours.

Songsmith xx

Songsmithing...

Coming soon...

Shell xx

A time of pleasure and of plenty...

I often have talked here about my take on the seasonal changes of life...  Being only days away from the beginning of Winter here in Australia, I thought it time to post more observations...

For me, I feel like it's time take stock of all that I have, and be so wholly thankful for this time of pleasure in the simple, yet plentiful things...

This winter I plan to record my album - develop her theme, her name, and start to show you all her new songs;

I plan to make lots of pumpkin soup from the produce of my garden!  

I plan to be frugal with money, as we enter into the grown up world of house mortgages;

I plan to light the fire more often, and stay inside, sitting down reading to my children;

I plan to iron less, and serve others more;

I plan to keep warm of heart, of spirit and  of body this coming Winter.

What plans have you?

Shell xx

Sunday Soul...

I've been utterly affected by an episode of Spectacle: Elvis Costello With...  which was on ABC2 t'other night, featuring (his wife) Diana Krall, and (my favourite) Elton John.

I've been thinking about singing some jazz...  Figure I have the right tools:  Deep woman's voice, and a tuned piano...  But I've got to develop the most important ingredient:  Soul.

I'm loving it.

In other news, I wrote a Joni Mitchell/Bob Dylan type little songy thing this morning after breakfast.  (I love writing songs in the morning, they are different to the ones you write late at night somehow...)

V1. I’ve taken time to think about it,

I’ve taken time to be a woman,

In my own right,

To listen to the moments, watch them ticking by-

I’ve asked all the big questions,

Like why am I not the hero in my own life?

& what’s the end of the book like?

Chorus:

But this world is, fading away,

And your own life, Isn’t your own life-

Unless you give it away,

I want to give it away, in my own kind-

Of fallen way.

V2. It’s just time to face the mountain,

And know that I can’t put it off any longer,

To go see the sun rise -

go drink the warmth of His eyes…

I wanna paint you a picture and a photograph,

I wanna get the window seat and see, 

where you can’t see, where the sky ends -

And the ocean begins.

Chorus.

And you say it’s your world,

But I say it’s fading away,

And your own life, isn’t your own life,

Unless you give it away,

Watch me give away, 

In my own kind, of fallen way...

Songsmithingly Yours,

Shell xx