Shoulda by Blokeacola

This EP was recorded during Chinese New Year 2025 at my mother-in-law's in Ningbo using an old laptop, a condenser mic, an acoustic guitar and not much else. The not much else included a recorder and a harmonica because they were easy additional instruments to grab and take with me in a car crammed full of gifts for in-laws. I felt a couple of the tracks could benefit from percussion so for the first track I tapped the condenser mic case with my fingers, using the ring on my ring finger for some extra snap. The room I recorded in is used for storing stuff so for the fourth track I was able to make a beat banging a small cardboard box and the desk my laptop was on before overdubbing a shaker. The shaker was actually a small container of toothpicks.

Chinese New Year is a difficult time for me because by this point I've already been feeling pretty depressed about not seeing my friends and family for the duration of Christmas, which isn't a holiday in China. I haven't been home for Christmas for well over a decade now. I love Chinese New Year for the fact my wife and kids get to spend time with their extended family but the reality is it's pretty boring and somewhat lonely for me, very much on the outside looking in, trying and for the most part failing to keep up with whatever conversation is going on.

Rather than endlessly doomscrolling on my phone I decided this year I was going to do something productive and challenge myself to make as much music as possible within this short time frame, and to see what was possible with very severe limitations compared to what I've grown used to in my home studio. I made and stuck to certain rules, in summary no reverb, delay, compression or any kind of plugins, just the very basic DAW EQ in the ancient version of Sony Acid that's on the laptop. I was fascinated to see what I could achieve through only my playing, writing and arrangements, not endlessly overthinking things.

I wanted to work on pure instinct and also to finish mixing the tracks before I returned to Hangzhou where I could then do a very basic mastering job on them. I finished mixing the EP in the Zhejiang countryside (outside Baita near Xianju) in a B&B we were staying in whilst visiting more family in my wife's original hometown. I thought it was important to finish mixing the EP whilst on the road as there'd be a risk it would turn into something different once my usual tools were available to me at home.

For the most part, making this EP was a lot of fun, the stress of trying to squeeze in decent takes in a noisy family environment aside. I surprised myself regarding what I could achieve with, for the most part, just an acoustic guitar. The change in situation encouraged me to be inventive. For example, turning down the treble and turning up the bass means the acoustic can become a functional bass guitar, which I used simply for depth and rhythm, to anchor the compositions, rather than trying to do anything fancy. If an arrangement was lacking something then obviously I could also use the acoustic to play some lead guitar parts. These I sometimes doubled at a lower or higher octave and then panned for a stereo effect which tended to work quite nicely.

There was a lot of nostalgia associated with working this way. When the old band I was in split up in the naughty noughties, I was very disillusioned with music and was thinking of knocking it on the head. Perhaps I shoulda! But I quickly found the urge to create was still very much there, so I continued making music on a laptop using only a computer mic. Although the tracks I made back then were very rough around the edges, it felt like there was exciting potential within them, and for better or worse, it was enough to keep me engaged in writing and recording. The way I was working over Chinese New Year 2025 felt similarly magical though a decent condenser mic has made a massive difference regarding the finished product.

I wanted to give this EP away for free as I'm aware I've been constantly promoting the same double album for a while now (https://122musicmanagement.com/blokeacola) so it felt like an opportune time to do something completely different and put some new music out there for the pure love of it. I hope you get something from it. Lots of love and best of luck for the Year of the Snake. I think we're going to need all the luck we can get...

Psychedelic pop person. To find out more about Blokeacola, head to his artist page: https://122musicmanagement.com/blokeacola

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