SoftWave feat. Barney Ashton-Bullock -
Will It Ever Be Christmas Again?
Music: SoftWave
Composition, synthesizers and production: Jerry Olsen
Vocal 1: Catrine Christensen
Vocal 2:& Lyrics: Barney Ashton-Bullock
1. Will It Ever Be Christmas Again? - 4:20
E4M-How did this Christmas single project come about?
Leading up to the release of the EP, Jerry Olsen (SoftWave's producer) sat in the studio and played
with a bell sound, which captured him so much that it unintentionally ended up with the creation of
SoftWave's first Christmas song!
With less than 2 months until December 1st, they chose to co-write with a former collaboration partner from Great Britain, Barney Ashton-Bullock.
He is a playwright,poet and librettist in the project 'Andy Bell is Torsten' alongside Erasure's Andy Bell.
Barney had previously invited SoftWave to produce 2 remixes for Andy Bell's sold-out LP ('Club Torsten' Lead Me (SoftWave Electro-Noir Remix) & Society, Society (SoftWave Electro-Noir Remix)
which ended up on the UK OFFICIAL ALBUM CHARTS in the good company of Vince Clarke
(founder of Erasure, Yazoo, Depeche Mode).
In this Christmas song, SoftWave's singer (Catrine
Christensen) chose to duet with Barney, who also wrote the lyrics. Together they created the ultimate
and most beautiful Christmas atmosphere, seasoned with Jerry's delicious production and jingle bell
sounds.
Catrine-Jerry came up with the idea music wise and the title. And I thought of Barney right away to ask him to write the lyrics because of the short deadline and I knew he was a great writer. He sent me the lyrics and sang along. I was supposed to do the lead vocals. But after listening to Barneys lovely melody it seemed natural to me to do a duet with him
We all had much fun doing this project and we would love to do it again another time. Everything went so fast and it turned out to be one of our best productions ever.A music video released on December 8, 2022.
E4M-Asks Barney about his involvement in this unique project
A couple of years back, following an introduction from über Torstenite Shaun Pierce, I had it in mind to approach cult Danish synth-poppers SoftWave about remixing a couple of ‘Andy Bell is Torsten’ tracks to complete a planned vinyl compilation of dance-pop remixes of songs from our repertoire. As such, SoftWave duly delivered admirable and inventive remixes of two of the arguably most obscure ‘Andy Bell is Torsten’ songs, ‘Lead Me’ and ‘Society, Society’ and they became an unexpected highlight of the ultra limited edition ‘Club Torsten’ vinyl.
Catrine from SoftWave had done her research and knew that I was responsible for lyrics and melody on the ‘Andy Bell is Torsten’ repertoire and asked if I would write the lyrics for the instrumental music track she and bandmate Jerry had created. With the idea that it would become a Christmas song, Catrine gave me the wondrously melodramatic and rhetorical question of a song-title, ‘Will It Ever Be Christmas Again?’ and, although that phrase doesn’t actually appear in my lyrics for the song at all, it’s not really an anomaly as we are living in unprecedented times of fear for our own future; economic, ecological and in terms of virus and war.
I think SoftWave were rather hoping that Andy Bell might be interested in singing the song and I did ask on their behalf but schedules and commitments meant that Andy had to rule himself out. I then approached Peter Straker, Rupert in our ‘Andy Bell is Torsten’ shows, as Peter is a West End musical theatre veteran and could have delivered a wonderfully rich vocal. Alas, I received no answer from Peter and, with my own day job commitments, had little time to persistently chase him. I think because these two famous singers couldn’t sing the song and because I had already made a scratch guide voice demo at home to demonstrate the melody and word scan of the lyrics I’d written that it must have occurred to SoftWave to ask me to duet with Catrine. So, although I know I was third choice, and have no precedence as a recording artist, it worked out quite well. The recording had to be delivered within a few days and, as I don’t have a home studio, I was assisted by Michael Allison, friend of Peter Straker, who not only has a home studio, but who has worked with Olivia Newton-John, Cliff Richard and Peter Straker in the past. I knew, therefore, I’d be in good hands, so to speak, because Michael would be able to tell if I sang sharp or flat and make melodic suggestions. He made some edits between takes and sent the WAV file of me singing the whole song off to SoftWave who’d patched the duet together with their engineer in Denmark.
It all happened unexpectedly and by chance and I didn’t know whether such a song was potentially a cringefest for me to front, but having played it to my dearest and most honest pals, they all loved it, were surprised by it, delighted in its humour and found it very catchy. I tried to make the song a little bit lefty in the way that I critique the materialism of Christmas and imagine a God who would chastise unbridled gluttony! Christmas in the song, becomes a celebration through which to wish for, “peace on Earth, an end to fear” and the song enjoins all to "use this Christmas time to find common cause, community and a steady mind”. It leaves me to say Happy Christmas to you all and to ask you, very kindly, to spread the word about this little Christmas song! Watch out for the video! Lol!
Erasure4rum Reviews SoftWave’s first Christmas Single.
SoftWave’s first Christmas single entitled ’Will It Ever Be a Christmas Again?’ comes hot on the heels of the excellent ‘Aspire EP’,check out the Erasure4rum review here-http://www.erasure4rum.com/4rum/viewtopic.php?t=1205.
It comes as a 1 track digital release,the full length version.
Starting off with a virtual sleigh ride,being magically transported to a white winter wonderland,complete with the obligatory Christmas bells.
The Aspire EP was a hard act to follow,but they pull it off as it’s a Christmas cracker!
Jerry & Catrine deliver a sparkling glitter wrapped present for our delight,Catrine’s beautiful vocal overlays Jerry’s sublime backing,it’s a brand new song yet the feel of it seems to make you believe it’s a Christmas staple,welcoming & familiar,as if it’s been around forever.
A dependable SoftWave track,that’s skates along nicely with a little break after the first verse/chorus and then Barney’s vocal kicks in,bringing a whole new dimension,being the lyricist on this track it does have a familiar ‘Torstenite’ feel to the lyrics,you can hear Barney’s lyrical style,but without the usual full on ‘Torsten style/subject matter’.
It just shows Barney’s broad command of wordplay you find in his poetry/songwriting skills. How many strings to his bow does he have? (Many it seems)
The last section sees a full on duet between Catrine & Barney,with intricate harmonies blending in perfectly,some ad libs to fade and ending with a lovely little Christmas message from Catrine which is a wonderful ending giving you a warm glow as if you’ve just finished your spicy mulled wine!
Pass the party hats,it’s time to celebrate ……. Press play again!
https://softwave.lnk.to/Christmas
https://softwave.bandcamp.com/music
https://www.facebook.com/SoftWaveMusic/
https://instagram.com/softwave_music?ig ... MyMTA2M2Y=
