If Make Us Happy was a return to my folkier roots, The Rock, the Sea, the Rising Tide goes to the soil. When I first began writing songs on the guitar I played almost exclusively fingerstyle. I took some classical lessons at 16, but quickly dropped them in favour of joining a rock ’n roll band.… over the past few years I’ve been drawn again to

If Make Us Happy was a return to my folkier roots,  The Rock, the Sea, the Rising Tide goes to the soil.  When I first began writing songs on the guitar I played almost exclusively fingerstyle.  I took some classical lessons at 16, but quickly dropped them in favour of joining a rock ’n roll band.… over the past few years I’ve been drawn again to that style of playing and hope that you’ll find this collection of songs intriguing and rewarding. 

I’m sure you know how important the lyric - the narrative - is to me, and I’ve really enjoyed writing these stories. Created from both imagined and real life experiences, I’ve weaved them into the musical landscape of this album. The title of the album is taken from the chorus of The Ballad of Jago Trelawney; a story and character I've based on a real sea battle that took place in 1793 between the English Nymph & French Cleopatre.

I've kept the arrangements sparse - with just a violin and cello on two songs, and my old school recorder and Turkish Cumbus on another (oh and the wheezy old harmonium I found on a dump), mostly it's just guitar and voice.  It’s been a challenge to “under-produce” this album, and I’ve stuck with performance over technique on a couple of tracks which challenged my OCD as a sound engineer and audio perfectionist. It’s always difficult being the writer, performer, engineer and producer - as a self-releasing artist that’s the way it is - hard to know sometimes when enough is enough, or when it ain’t for that matter! Still I wanted to let this album be raw and real.

As always, creating an album is a labour of love, and it’s hard to let go of the process. But let go I must, so I can move on to the next.

I’m indebted to Tania Chanter for allowing me to use her wonderful painting Shipwreck Coast for the CD cover. As always I looked far and wide to find the right picture for the album, and found Tania’s work (she lives in New Zealand) and this particular painting a perfect match for the tone of the album. You can find her work at
https://taniachanter.com

Indie-folk maverick Simon Scardanelli's 4th solo album sees a return to his roots with a ramshackle ensemble of accordions, fiddle, cajon, clarinet, soprano sax, guitars, mandolin and turkish cumbus in eclectic and unusual arrangements perfectly suited to his quirky original songwriting. From a song describing the perilous journey of a migrant, to

Indie-folk maverick Simon Scardanelli's 4th solo album sees a return to his roots with a ramshackle ensemble of accordions, fiddle, cajon, clarinet, soprano sax, guitars, mandolin and turkish cumbus in eclectic and unusual arrangements perfectly suited to his quirky original songwriting. From a song describing the perilous journey of a migrant, to the intimate confessions of a well-used dagger. Think Squeeze in an Egyptian souk, 3 Daft Monkeys on steroids, or Beirut.

A single - Talk About Glory - will be released on 4th February with a video.

"Bed of Nails" was to have been a full-length album released in 2002. However, due to artistic differences (with himself) and other bizarre happenings Simon scrapped the album after working on the project for over seven years.

However, five tracks are now available on a special mini-album including two songs - "How On Earth?" and "Walls" which

"Bed of Nails" was to have been a full-length album released in 2002. However, due to artistic differences (with himself) and other bizarre happenings Simon scrapped the album after working on the project for over seven years.

However, five tracks are now available on a special mini-album including two songs - "How On Earth?" and "Walls" which have never been heard outside the confines of Scardanelli's studio. Written and recorded in the dingy, dark, damp basement that was Scardanelli's home during these difficult years, these two sparsely produced piano-led songs are intimate confessions of love, loss and longing.