MOOOVE FURTHER / DON'T SPREAD THE FEVER! (CORONA MONSTER MIX)

Toward the end of last year, I started recording a series of anti-Brexit songs at home with my phone unceremoniously gaffa-taped to the end of the piano. These mostly adapted existing tunes and melodies of all sorts and in some cases mashed up several within the same piece. Some of them used text directly lifted from the excellent Remainiacs podcast, which gave me a little niche fame on Twitter. (Very, very niche, tbh.)

I have intended to give them a page of their own on this website for some while, because they've been a massive part of my musical creativity lately. I'm sure I'll find time soon enough. (Ahem.)

Because they were appreciated by quite a few people, and because they were fun/cathartic to do, I also fully expected to be writing more political ones this year. Not least because the Brexit process hasn’t run its course (surprise!) even though we officially left the EU at the end of January. 

And then the past month happened. 

For a while I thought: I have to do something musical in response to this crisis. But how do you create an upbeat ’satirical’ song about a virus which is causing so much anxiety and suffering, as well as ruining people’s livelihoods? It’s a tough one to tackle.

But with plenty of time at home to ruminate these past few weeks (!) I finally came up with this medley, using the songs 'Move Closer’ (orig by Phyllis Nelson) and ‘Fever’ (Peggy Lee along with many others), with another well known melody thrown in over the latter for good measure. 

It’s both serious and not-serious, and I do hope it makes you smile. Goodness knows we need to find things that will do that right now, for the sake of our mental well-being.

Let me tell you...

About a few new animation videos I've made recently!


Ride On Time



The first is for my radical reinterpretation of this stomping Italo house hit for Black Box back in 1989 (a track that got into choppy legal waters through its unauthorised sampling of Loleatta Holloway's 'Love Sensation').

My take on the track is a slowly unfolding thing of beauty, with a typically sumptuous lead vocal from regular collaborator Alexandra Howlett, previously heard on 'Luco' and 'The Up Shit Creek Blues'. Meanwhile, the Cherry Mint Koala guys - Tony Woollard and Charlie Brown - do their usual magic on the old strings. It's a slight edit of the opening cut from the 'European Dream' album.

The video is a simple affair (by my standards) involving a truckload of matches and not a lot else. Realising the pulse was approx one beat per second, I thought it would be quite effective to use this details to mark the passage of time through the song, and the stark image of matches on black background prove hypnotically effective. Sometimes, less really is more.



Lidl Briton

This song is not actually by me at all, but rather the very talented Matthew Crutchlow. Earlier in the summer he asked if I would be interested to create an animation video for this track, explaining that all the proceeds would be going to the charity Barnado's for their work with young carers. The lyrics of the song make it clear what the connection is. 

As Matthew had previously helped me out with vocals - on 'Waiting For Green' and 'You Don't Need Me To Tell You That' - I thought it only fair to return the favour. But it also helped that I fell in love with the song, which to me carries distinct tones of the late great Kirsty MacColl in both its harmonies and lyrical bite. 

The video follows the song's 12 year old main character as he faces various challenges on his lonely and difficult journey, but his hope and optimism still manage to shine through. 

Lidl Briton is available through most stores and streaming services, but do consider buying the track through his Bandcamp store as there is only a minimum price given. This means you can effectively donate more if you wish.






 

My new covers album 'European Dream' is out now as a download/stream. You can find it in all the usual online places, inc iTunes, Spotify etc.

If you're one of those splendid types who like to support independent music stores, you can find it all right here on CD Baby.

The 12 track album features slightly sinister lead single 'Saturday Night', along with two previously released tracks from earlier EPs ('The Day Before You Came' and 'Dancing On My Own'). The remaining songs feature vocal collaborators both familiar and new, and a hefty dose of exquisitely arranged atmospheric melancholia, Northfield-style.

Swoonsome strings on several tracks are provided once more by my Cherry Mint Koala colleagues: Tony Woollard & Charlie Brown.
Accordion on 'Voyage Voyage' and 'Asereje' is played by Martin White, founder of the delightfully unfathomable Mystery Fax Machine Orchestra.
Guitar on 'Saturday Night' and 'Sexy Boy' comes courtesy of the ever appreciated Gareth Forster.
Bass Guitar of Death on 'All That She Wants' and a few handy programming tricks elsewhere are provided by the never knowingly undersold Andrew Holdsworth.

Everything else is my responsibility.

The fine arty cover shot is from a photo by Simon Bennett on the shoot for the 'Saturday Night' video.
It was gently tweaked into shape by Gary Collins for Absence/Presence.

Sample album playlist on Soundcloud

Saturday Night video

Full album tracklisting:

Ride On Time (feat Alexandra Howlett) - originally by Black Box
Saturday Night - originally by Whigfield
All That She Wants (feat Ellen Jakubiel) - originally by Ace of Base
Voyage Voyage (feat Rosaleen Donnan) - originally by Desireless
The Day Before You Came - originally by ABBA
What Is Love - originally by Haddaway
Sexy Boy (feat Gareth Forster) - originally by Air
Blue - originally by Eiffel 65
Self Control - originally by RAF (also Laura Branigan)
Asereje (feat Alexandra Howlett) - originally by Las Ketchup
Dancing On My Own - originally by Robyn
Euphoria (feat Ellen Jakubiel) - originally by Loreen


(Normally, I release things through Bandcamp as well, but they don't allow covers to be sold through their platform. It's a cruel world sometimes.)
 

I'm going to be delving into some tracks from my new album European Dream on my Tumblr (Beguiling Transmissions) over the coming weeks. I've already said a bit about the slightly sinister lead single, Saturday Night, and now it's the turn of the track that immediately follows it: All That She Wants, originally made famous by Ace of Base. It's a bleak little number, to be sure...

You can find the post and other musings at www.marknorthfield.tumblr.com

 

New single out tomorrow: 'Saturday Night'. A slightly stalker-esque version of the irrepressibly bouncy 90's smash by Whigfield.

It's a taster from the forthcoming album 'European Dream', an album exploring the darker side of Europop.

3 track single includes covers of 'No Limit' and 'Self Control'. The latter song will also feature on the forthcoming album.

Download/stream from all the usual online places, Fri 13th May.

Watch the video for 'Saturday Night' on this website's Sound & Vision page or alternatively here on YouTube.
 

The homepage is dead, long live the homepage! Or something like that. My dear old website, idiosyncratically delightful as it was, had always been a bit clunky. I thought it about time to invest in something a little more stylish and swooshy, and more importantly something that actually works properly on a smartphone. (Because, well... duh!)

So, here we are people. At some point I'd like to add things like a 'collaborators' page, maybe make sheet music available, that kind of thing. I daresay there will be some new pictures along shortly (I seem to have more hair again). Being a little more user-friendly, I might actually feel inclined to update this blog more often too, though I'm still someone who prefers to focus on quality rather than quantity and I doubt that will change. I find it difficult to reflect and create when wired up to social media.

One of the cool features herein is the music player, which I've loaded up with a mixed up playlist of both Mark Northfield and Cherry Mint Koala tracks rather than all the albums in their normal running order (if you want to hear those in that way, you can go to my Bandcamp store). It was kinda fun putting that together, juxtaposing music from different parts of my life. You'll find the videos on that page too.

What's coming up soon? Well, a new single and album no less ('Saturday Night' and 'European Dream' respectively: yes, the long threatened/promised Europop covers project). I'm also going to be working on some short film composition again for the school of Acting at ArtsEd next month, and it was lovely to be asked again after my first foray into that territory last year. In the midst of all this, I'm also going to be moving to Reading (or thereabouts). It's all go around here.

If you like my stuff and you're not on my mailing list, please do sign up. I don't bombard people with emails, it's just to let people know about new things when they happen, and maybe the occasional giveaway too. The sign up thingy is just over there on the right.

Peace.

mx