ST18.1 Reviews and Rankings - Leonie Connellan

Here are Round 1 reviews and rankings from Leonie Connellan of Hot Pink Halo:

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Judging this was hard. I changed my top ten alone somewhere in the realm of 20 times. I genuinely enjoyed aspects of every song, even the ones near the bottom of my list. As always with reviews, everybody is going to have a different perspective, and I hope mine is helpful. For the record, I listened to all the songs at least five times. Probably more. My order of importance when judging is, generally: song / structure > lyrics > emotional core / storytelling / intention > musical ability > production skills. Obviously all of those things cross over to a degree, and sometimes I’ll focus more on one aspect or another. As always, take what you can use from my feedback, and leave what you can’t.

Matt Rhog-Miller - Retail Therapy This sounds like it’s recorded in one take with you playing guitar and singing at the same time. If your recording setup allows for it, it might be beneficial for you to record the instruments and vocals separately. Your vocals sound a little too tied to the rhythm of the guitar playing at first, and are a touch stilted as a result. There are some awkward spots where you take a breath in the middle of a sentence, and if you’re able to do a few vocal takes you could plan out the breathing better which would improve the flow. During the first verse in particular you sound quite nervous and tense, but that said, you seem to relax more as the song progresses, and those issues that I’ve mentioned become less apparent. If you are only able to record everything in a single take, you might consider at least doing a few runs in a row and I think that you’d end up with something that sounds really good.

Stacking Theory - This Pale Blue Dot “Riots at the top of town” is a helluva way to open a song. Luckily for you I also understand the exact context, and can picture the particular “top of town” you’re referencing very well in my mind’s eye. Even though this is about very specific events, I feel like you’ve managed to generalise enough that people less familiar with the situation will understand what’s going on, but it will be interesting to read the reactions. Out of all the songs this one stands out the most as stylistically different to me, and I think you made some really good choices with panning and those ethereal background sounds (traffic? trucks?) and lonely keyboards to set the scene for space, and reinforce the idea of drifting through time. My one criticism of this song would be that it’s SO nihilistic, which is the antithesis of Carl Sagan. Like, even though his Pale Blue Dot piece goes into all the heartbreak and the pointless power struggles and the fleetingness of it all, it’s never nihilistic because he was a relentless optimist. If you wanted to adjust that sentiment just slightly, I think you could do it just by tweaking the word “stain” to something else. I don’t know what that word would be, but I personally would look for something a bit more neutral. The last line where the vocals become robotic then drift away is perfect. This is one of your best songs, and I really do promise that it’s not even the twelve jars of Vegemite talking.

Daniel Sitler - Only (Kind of) Blue This is one of those songs where I enjoyed it before looking at any of the background information or lyrics, then appreciated it even more after learning the back story. I think it’s commendable to write a song about an ex without demonising anyone. It’s sentimental without being self-indulgent, which is a hard thing to pull off. The knowledge that you developed the music from an existing piece is pretty cool and clever. I liked it before I knew that, but I enjoyed it even more after. Adding my own reading to some of the lyrics: it’s interesting that you go to Red in the bridge. That could be because red is a colour associated with anger and rashness, but I immediately read it as a “red shift” / “blue shift” kind of affair, as in the Doppler shifts of light, with the redshift moving away into the past and the blueshift accelerating toward the future. This marries nicely with the reference to motion and speed in “we were dancing to Kind of Blue, but I couldn’t keep up with you”. In the lines “I never could have seen through, I never could have seen it through”, you’ve changed the entire meaning of the sentence just by adding a single two-letter word, which is some kind of magic trick. The minimalistic instrumentation reinforces the intimacy of the tune, and there’s really nothing I would even consider changing there. The doubling of the vocals in the choruses and bridge is a good way to open the song up and differentiate it from the verses. Overall, this is a really personal song but you’ve managed to be just broad enough in your language and performance that we can bring our own meanings to it. This is a song that really rewards repeated listens and I think I just convinced myself to move it to the top of the list. Well done.

See-Man-Ski - Pulp Your sound is very distinctively you. My first listen through I deliberately didn’t look at names and titles, and I immediately knew who made this one. I love the big build up in the verse followed by the way you drop everything back to a very subdued first couple of lines in the chorus. All the little vocal flourishes to extend out word and add emphasis are super fun and enjoyable. I know you’re all like, “This a a song just about orange juice! No deeper meaning at all!”, but I can spot the fine tradition of double entendre in song from a mile away, and I strongly approve. Unrelated to your song, but something I keep thinking of when I listen to it, is the book Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman. Eleanor discovers Tesco’s “Orange Juice with Bits” thanks to a musician*, and it makes me laugh every time I see it at Tesco now. I also prefer my Orange Juice with “Bits”.

*”I had arranged to have the afternoon off that day for my appointment at the hairdressers, but ate my lunch in the staff room first as usual, with the Telegraph crossword, a tuna and sweet corn bloomer, salt and vinegar crisps and orange juice, with bits. I must thank the musician, in due course, for introducing me to the pleasure of bits.”

The Dutch Widows - Pastel Purple Icing What a mystery. These lyrics are super-opaque, but also incredibly intriguing, and I personally really enjoy the process of trying to figure it out but really having no effing clue. I’ve been looking up all sorts of British cakes and can find nothing specific about pale purple icing, so can only assume that it’s either about a very personal memory, or that the entire song is made from metaphor. It didn’t help that I originally misheard “pastel purple icing and buttercream” as “pastel purple icing and verdigris”, and thought that this was a song that referenced two colours. I spent several minutes searching for information about cakes iced in purple and green before thinking to look at the actual lyrics.

The tale that I’ve managed to spin myself about this song is that it’s somehow about Harry and Meghan leaving royal life behind, because I think the Queen’s Birthday holiday is celebrated in June, and purple has traditionally been a colour reserved for royalty.

Whatever it’s about, the picture painted is about someone stuck in a mental loop, and I enjoy the reflection of that in the way the music has been constructed.

Chas Rock - Hazel Green The style of the music here has a pleasant 60s vibe, although the melody feels almost a little too familiar. I can’t quite put my finger on what it’s reminding me of, but it’s enjoyable nonetheless. I think you’ve layered three different drum tracks panned left, right and centre, which is slightly unusual but creates some interesting and cool polyrhythm and spatial effects. The higher pitched harmony on “morning” adds some good flavour. The link to the challenge is a little tenuous, but I do specifically think of “hazel green” as an eye colour before anything else.

Timothy Patrick Hinkle - Slate This is an interesting one in that I get a lot more out of listening to you sing the lyrics than I do from reading them on the page. Written down they seem very flowery and almost impenetrable, but hearing them sung is easy and very evocative. The line that hit home the hardest is “every day the ache inside expands to fill the space”. I think a lot of the magic in this one hangs on your vocal delivery, which is very, very good. It’s also a double-edged sword, because that delivery has to be spot on every time for the song to work. There’s the danger that it will just become a jumble of words and meaningless metaphors otherwise.

Ominous Ride - Gin Black Days One of the most useful things that I learned though critiques at art school is to never apologise for what you’ve made before anyone’s had the chance to make up their own mind. Just because you’re disappointed in your work, that doesn’t mean that other people will be. If your audience do pick up on the same things that you feel unhappy with in your song, then that’s a good indication that, yeah, those parts are things you might want to work on. If not, then nobody ever needs to know, and it might just be an indication that you’re better at something than you think you are. (I hope that most of the other contestants also read the different reviews, because this is a piece of advice that could apply to almost everyone taking part.)

To the song though, I don’t think this is too short, and I don’t think it needs another verse for the sake of it. Oftentimes a shorter song is a better song. I’d rather be left wanting more than having something that outstays its welcome.

Those higher harmonies sound really good to me and add a lot. Overall though, your vocals are quite clear and distinct, but somehow they just wash over me without really sticking. I had to read the lyrics to really get a grasp on the subject matter, even with knowing the title or hearing that cool glass crashing sample at the end of the song. I’m not sure if that’s an issue with too many sounds sitting in the same frequency range, or maybe just some genre bias sneaking in on my part, so do take that critique with a grain of salt; it will be interesting to hear if anyone else shares that opinion, or if it’s just me.

Governing Dynamics - violetlies This song is just absolutely begging for some kind of string arrangement. I’d build it up slowly, starting underneath at 2:19, then really let it loose at somewhere around 3:35. As it is, the performances and production are pretty rough around the edges; you stumble over some words here and there, and don’t always hit what you’re going for, but I don’t really care because the song itself has a lot of potential. It’s the one I’ve had stuck in my head for the longest, and of all the songs, it’s the one that I think could be performed in a lot of different ways and have a fantastic impact each time. I really like a lot of the lyrics, especially “In the silence of your violet skied violence, not so much magic as tragic contrivance” and “dust and pollution diffusing the light, such ugly truths and beautiful violent lies”. It’s very evocative and I really enjoyed it. I think if you spend some time really planning it out and polishing it, it will be well worth your while.

Sara Parsons - Secondary There’s something about the sparseness of the instrumentation and vocals here that really makes this song shine. The lyrics themselves border on cliché, but the vocal delivery is so masterful that you manage to sell them. I do really like the main idea of primary colours mixing to secondary. The way you break up “Tee — eee —- eeth” is utterly charming, and there are a lot of other small touches along those lines that make the whole song and performance really personable, even the little chord clash under “green iced tea”. The length is spot on, and it doesn’t outstay its welcome. I listened to all the songs multiple times in different environments, and when I was listening to this one without any other distractions, it somehow managed to make me cry. Twice. I’m super glad you signed up and look forward to hearing your other songs!

Entertainment Brothers - Purple I was pretty glad to hear another blues in the mix, and to be honest I’m amazed that there weren’t more songs that took advantage of it colour-wise. I like the idea of a tongue “getting purple from singing the blues”. I also enjoyed the instrumentation in general, especially the atmospheric stuff that builds up at the end. That aside though, I was pretty immediately uncomfortable with some of your lyrical choices, and unfortunately that kept up throughout the whole song. Reading the bio you wrote, it seems like you’re trying to come from a place of sincerity, but the “comedy” lyrics just completely undermine it. I understand there’s a history of this kind of casual sexism in blues lyrics, and it continues to be really disappointing to me. It’s entirely possible to make a “woe is me” song without deliberately alienating at least half the population. There’s 32 official entries this round, and as far as I can tell, a grand total of three of them feature female musicians. Five if you count the shadows from myself and Also in Blue. As a woman, if I was interested in participating in something like Spintunes and happened to click on this song before anything else, I probably wouldn’t enter because I wouldn’t feel welcome, and that’s a real problem in music as a whole. I don’t like constantly pointing out obvious stuff like this to guys, but hopefully talking about it blatantly helps make a difference. I’m very interested to hear what the other (male) judges say about this song.

The Brewhouse Sessions - #FFC0CB This was the first song of the lot that I found myself doing some actual toe-tapping, so good work on that front! This is a really fun song and I thoroughly enjoyed it from start to end. I’m a big fan of pink in general, and I’m really pleased there was at least one song celebrating it. It immediately made me think of this amazing pink Cadillac that would often drive down Brunswick St in Fitzroy when I lived in Australia. This is a pretty light and fluffy song, but it has just the right level of flamboyance; all it’s missing is some Lou Reed-esque shoop-a-dooping background singers (think Satellite of Love style à la Transformer).

Cavedwellers - Chartreuse To me, this song is exactly like an 80s romance novel in musical form. It’s been driving me absolutely bananas, because I know this melody already but it’s been a long time and I just can’t place it. I really like the tone of those rhythmic guitars in the left channel. Overall this is very well done, and it’s grown on me as I’ve listened, but I just can’t shake the idea that I know it from somewhere else. I’d also cut that last little guitar solo and end it at 2:53.

Jealous Brother - Lemon Tangerine (#FREEBRITNEY) This song is super enjoyable without understanding any of the context, but it really does hit well when you know the backstory. I’m only recently familiar with the Britney saga, so my knowledge of the facts is pretty basic, but even with that I was able to follow along with the main ideas and themes pretty well. Your lyrics scanned a little oddly when I read them, but when listening, they fit really well with the melody. Musically this is just an absolute bop and I’ve really enjoyed listening to it every time. Everything is super tight and I love the little false ending.

Brian Gray - Purple Dot / Something Like Home This was an immediate favourite and I’m looking forward to an entire musical, pretty please. Excellent opening line to set the scene. Your visual storytelling is absolutely spot-on. All the lines are very economical, telling as much story with as few words as possible. I’d just finished reading Andy Weir’s book ‘Project Hail Mary’ the night before all the songs landed, and your lyrics had some overlap with that story, although to be honest, while I enjoyed that book, this song is much better! The “touchdown” section is very reminiscent musically of the song ‘Quiet’ from Matilda. That could just be due to the conventions of writing for musicals, but that song specifically was one that came to mind straight away (I love that song and have listened to it, oh my, a lot of times). The way you build tension throughout the song is fantastically enjoyable, and you’re really very good at emoting through your vocal delivery. The way you sing “everything is so insanely purple”, for example, is just full of wonder. My favourite lyric of the whole saga is “Onward! 30 billion tattoos of a Songbird sing of hope for bringing out the Best in you, achieving what you’re manifestly Destined to instead of merely coming out alive.” This was an early frontrunner for my number one spot. Really, really, really good work.

Good Guy Sôjàbé - Grey The atmospheric sounds you’ve got going on throughout this song are very cool. This song is unfortunately one of those one’s that just slips through my consciousness. It’s like the movie ‘Heat’, where it’s very well made and a lot of people really love it, and I’ve seen it several times, but couldn’t describe anything from it to save myself. I think the issue that I’m having with this and several of the other “grey” songs is that you’ve matched the music to the colour just too literally. It’s all very monotone, and as a result, isn’t particularly memorable for me.

Jocko Homomorphism - Eigengrau Of all the songs this round, I think you’ve managed to be the most inventive with the challenge. I hadn’t heard of “eigengrau” before this, but even without knowing the names and the theories, it’s something that is pretty universal and instinctively easy to understand. “Eigengrau is old as time” is probably my favourite line, and your lyrical storytelling in general is just very strong here. The squeal-y sounds and their subtle shifts each time are a highlight, as is the way the song kind of disintegrates at the end.

Phlubububub - Indigo There have been a few songs with this 60s/70s flower power vibe this round. I wonder if it’s a bit of a trend that’s happening in general currently. I like that yours has that hippy vibe, but that it’s disrupted by the technology mentioned (CDs), grabbing the whole song and shifting it out of time. Speaking of time, the way it shifts around did feel a little awkward on the first couple of listens, but started to feel quite natural after a few runs through. The problem is that the rest of the song is a little too monotone and drifty to sustain a lot of interest for me, so if I didn’t need to listen to it several times through for judging, I probably wouldn’t have given it the attention that it needs. Lyrically, just reading the lyrics, they’re a little awkward. I don’t know if I’m feeling that way because I make visual art and so I’m not able to be objective regarding the subject matter, like when you watch someone acting on TV trying to do an activity that you’re very familiar with, or if it’s something else.

Menage a Tune - Disco Silver I love disco. The music is full of energy and it’s a super fun song. I like a lot of the imagery in the lyrics, and when the layered vocals come in things get more interesting. There’s one thing holding the song back though, and that’s the processing, or lack thereof, on the vocals. I can imagine that you may have been going for a dichotomy with the lyrical approach and song style, but with disco, you really just need to go all in. Along with just some general timing nudges, the vocals need EQing, then compression, compression and more compression. Then some reverb and saturation to really bed them into the track and add atmosphere. And maybe some more compression. You could also consider layering in some background vocals and doubles to really bring the whole thing home. While it’s not strictly disco, one album that I’d really recommend listening to if you want to make more music in this vein is ‘Impossible Princess’ by Kylie Minogue. I look forward to hearing what you’ll do with your songs in the rest of the competition.

Third Cat - Green Machine I wrote some notes for this on the plane, and I think it must have been somewhere near the end of the trip because they make absolutely no sense whatsoever. And I quote: “Nice moves from blue to green machine. Cool movement in sounds. Feels light in general. Comes & goes.” I think what I meant by that is I quite enjoyed it while listening, but there’s not a lot of substance in there, either lyrically or musically, to really grip me.

Ross Durand - Ultimate Gray First up, I really appreciate the way that you built the song musically. It’s not something I would have realised without you explaining it, which is totally fine imo, but I always enjoy when people find an interesting way to technically structure their songs. Secondly, this colour reminds me a lot of one of my “favourites” discovered last year, “Perfectly Greige”. Down to the song though, I think I have a couple of stumbling blocks with it, one being that musically it’s suffering from the monochrome syndrome that I’m also feeling with the other songs about grey: the colour itself is uninteresting, and the feel of the music is just matched too closely to the colour, and as a result, I’m not finding that particularly interesting either. I think part of it with this song is that you’re just writing about something you’ve just chosen at random that you really don’t care about, and it shows. A couple of things that stick out musically that just aren’t for me are that cymbal sound mixed on the left and the little false ending that happens before the last chorus. I don’t think the song needs that last chorus and you could just cut it and finish quite happily at 2:02.

New Fangled Trolleys - Yellow Stickey Notes It’s pretty clever to choose a colour that is immediately able to be perfectly visualised by most people, especially one that even people with visual impairments can viscerally understand. This song is pretty fun, the lyrics are strong, and your voice is very expressive and suited well to the genre. I do have a stumbling block with this song though, and it’s a similar one to all the songs about grey: you’ve deliberately matched the structure of the song to the idea of endless monotony, and as a result, the song starts feeling long and monotonous. Even though it’s not a particularly long song, it starts to feel quite long after [purposeful dissonance…..] when you go back in to “got my yellow notes on my yellow pad”. I think you could cut some of those final sections entirely and still paint a picture of uncut dreariness without the song itself feeling like it’s outstayed its welcome.

Lichen Throat - Silver Elite Gotta say, that opening tone is pretty discombobulating when you’re actually listening on a plane. I automatically looked up at the seatbelt sign. Subject matter wise, I’ve never really understood the obsession with frequent flyer miles. They do exist outside the USA, but the level of discussion that I see from Americans just isn’t there in any of the places that I’ve lived. As a result, I find it difficult to connect with this song on a lyrical or thematic level. Musically I really quite enjoyed the composition, and that dark Joy Division-y feel. A couple of rhythmic changes that I’d suggest to improve the flow of the vocals would be to pause for a couple of beats in specific spots. For example, “But I spend my share of time in (pause for a beat) planes and cars”. Paying attention to little moments like that throughout the whole song would go a long way in helping it feel a little more cohesive. I enjoyed the little change in melody for the bridge section.

Temnere - 1493 Really excellent theatrical storytelling here. While musically it never goes anywhere that I don’t expect, it plays to the genre very well, and is so action packed that the predictability doesn’t matter so much. I was flying over a Spanish mountain range when this one came on, which made the whole thing feel extra dramatic. My favourite little bit in the mix is when you occasionally pan a handful of the drums to mimic the sounds of marching through the night; it’s helps create a really nice mental picture. One other mix note: there seems to be some kind of masking happening with another track every time you sing “heroes”, which to my ear makes it sound like you’re singing “D-eeroes”. Good work though; I don’t normally listed to this type of song and really enjoyed this overall.

Jim of Seattle - Gray This one was an immediate front-runner for me from the first listen. The lyrics are incredibly clever, and stylistically it’s the only one of the “grey” songs to break out of a monotone delivery. The retro vibes and upbeat feel are right up my alley, and the backing vocals in particular are really lovely. I could have sworn that you’re singing “boranger” when you’re actually singing “more angelic”; I had to go back and listen to that while following the lyrics as written to hear it as “more angelic”. I kinda wish it was “boranger”, because that particular mondegreen gave me a big laugh. On a slightly fussy note, in the written lyrics, I wish you hadn’t broken up words that run over two bars with a hyphen and line break; it’s probably a useful technique for you when you’re writing, but I don’t need the exact breakdown of where every rhyme falls and would rather just being able to read it through straight. On a slightly personal note, my hair went silver long before I started getting old (thanks genetics), I like eating super-tart green apples, and I spell grey with an E”, so those lines all hit me in a different way than they would most people. My personal favourite line of the whole song is “The sweet surprise of that particular note”. Good job overall, this is an excellent song.

galoshy - Blue This is a beautiful follow up to Jim’s uptempo song. I really enjoyed the opening section a lot, and kind of wish it had stayed at that pace throughout the whole song. When you changed it up musically at “do you have little time”, I lost a bit of interest and found it difficult to pay attention. The whole thing has some strong Nick Drake vibes and is overall pretty enjoyable, but it didn’t live up to my expectations from that excellent opening.

“BucketHat” Bobby Matheson - Seeing Mauve (Rose​-​Coloured Glasses) “Your smile stretches for miles, don’t you think that’s a little much?” Is a fantastic opening line. It’s lighthearted and sets a good tone, but unfortunately the rest of the lyrics devolved into something that I found bordering on too mean. Reading your notes, I think it’s a fun idea to write to live input and participation from audience members, but it can also be an Achilles heel because it make editing judiciously less likely. On the whole, the lyrics end up feeling incredibly mansplainy to me, for five and a half minutes. It’s way too long and bitter. This song could be improved drastically in a couple of ways. The first thing I’d do is change the perspective: make the “you” a “he”, for example, and you lose some of the mansplaining feel, as well as making the listener feel more welcome in general. As it is with the “you”, it *feels* like you’re dissing me directly, and no listener wants to be told that they’re wrong or shit. Musically I’d increase the tempo just so it feels a little more bouncy, and I’d just cut some verses entirely because there’s too many of them just saying the same thing over and over using different words. I do hope you keep working on it because there’s the heart of a really good song in there.

Boffo Yux Dudes - Green With Envy I thoroughly enjoyed this song, and it’s probably my favourite Boffo Yux Dudes song that I’ve heard so far. It’s a great length and feels nice and bouncy the whole way through. I don’t love the phrase “not a good look” in general, but it works for the rhyme at least. I do really like the line “A burst of enveloping prismatic light”, and the lyrics flow well in general. Mix wise the compression feels a bit overcooked, but that’s an easy fix. Good job!

Sober - Kintsugi You should write songs quickly more often. I get the impression that you have a tendency for perfectionism, and the reason that this song works so well is that it hasn’t been overworked musically or lyrically. This is also reflected nicely in the idea of Kintsugi: that things don’t need to be perfect to have value, and sometimes the imperfections are what make things interesting and worthwhile. I’m guessing you’ve chosen the particular instrumentation because it’s what you probably enjoy the most, but there’s a lovely parallel between the way these instruments are played and Kintsugi. The lines those instruments play underneath the vocals almost feel like little rivers of gold holding the song together. One small change I’d make would be to add a couple of beats after that low note to just let the song breathe for a second. As it is, that particular moment feels a little rushed and crowded. Really good work though. This is one of my favourites from you.

Brother Baker - Cobalt, and Fading I’m not familiar with the band you’ve mentioned in your notes, but to me this has a real 90s Dinosaur Jr vibe. I do instinctively enjoy this type of sound and style, and in particular I really liked the piano part, but for some reason this song did take quite a few listens for me to even really register what the lyrics are, and I had to read them to figure out the themes. It’s not that they’re buried or unclear at all; I think it’s more to do with the song being All On All The Time. There’s not a moment of respite to think, and the whole thing just kept washing over me. Like, you know, I long for vibrance, but I just can’t find it. It feels like cobalt with no warmth. (Sorry.) I guess what I’m saying is it’s successful in that it does what it says on the tin, but it just doesn’t hit home for me personally.

The Pleasantry - Rosé I didn’t really like this song on the first listen, but it did grow on me subsequentlyt. I like that it’s completely different from everything else this round, and I enjoy those glitchy beats and sounds a lot. Cybronica’s background vocal fit really well in particular. I didn’t like the lyrics though. It comes across to me like you’re going for humour, but it very much sounds like you’re punching down a bit, like you’re being just a bit too mean and stereotypical about the type of people these characters that you’re playing are based on. It feels weird saying this on one of the few songs that features a woman, but like a couple of the other songs this round, I feel like there’s some heavy duty mansplaining happening lyrically. I think you’re probably aware of that, but overall the perspective that frames the song makes it feel a bit thoughtless.

thanks, brain - Bleed Out Purple There are things that I really like about this song and other parts that just kind of wash over me indiscriminately. I was never able to really grasp what it’s about at all, either when listening or even when reading through the lyrics. With some songs that’s not a problem, but this one left me a little cold and I feel like some more solid clues as to what it’s about would help. I enjoyed the samples and there’s a nice level of musical tension coming across. I also really like that abrupt ending. The mix could use a few little touches (maybe some saturation or bussing a single reverb to everything) to glue the different instruments together a bit more substantially and bed everything down. Overall I enjoyed this, but it wasn’t particularly memorable, which is unfortunate in a such a large group of songs.

Hot Pink Halo - Clementine (SHADOW) It me. I didn’t really have time to do write a song this time around, but have wanted to write a blues and couldn’t really resist a colour challenge. This is a song about how much I love my guitar, which is bright orange with red racing stripes. It’s the ultimate immediate-make-feel gooder machine.

Also in Blue - Shadow Grey (SHADOW) This is beautiful. I love everything about it. As someone with an overly acute sense of colour perception alongside a career in art and design, colour blindness is something I think about fairly often, but can never really understand at anything other than a theoretical level. Somehow switching the senses and listening to descriptions instead of reading about them, especially in this stripped-back a cappella style, allows me to build a clearer picture and a better understanding of how it might feel to be colourblind. Plus your wife can sing really well. Good job all round. I love that out of all the judges, the two of us with a colour in our band names were the ones to submit songs. :)