Redfern Demos by Orphan Train Project

This record actually has a story.

I was living in Great Buckingham St, Redfern, Sydney, during the final months of 2001. I had just finished the final Maudlins record in painstaking detail, and was enjoying the freedom of putting down some new ideas without caring too much about the finished product. There was a spare room in the house, and I began laying down ideas.

In early 2002, I moved to London, and in my backpack was a hastily burned CDR with the title 'Redfern Demos' scribbled on the disc. As time went on, I got used to listening to and enjoying these 9 songs in their existing order and arrangements, and vaguely promised myself to record them properly one day.

Over the years, I made progress in small steps, between other records. An early version of 'Morning Sun' appeared in 2008. 'The Backpacker Song' was half completed in 2009. 'Schneider' I managed to get down in 2013. In mid to late 2014 I pushed myself to get it completed, and in February 2015 it was finally done.

Demos are difficult to re-record, especially when you have listened to them for so long just the way they are. How do you create full arrangements while keeping the raw quality of the originals? How do you match what is coming out of the speakers with the perfect sounds that are in your head?

It's been fun trying.

Orphan Train Project is a musical journey that that began thirty years ago in the secluded hills above Adelaide, South Australia. First records were made on busted tape decks on a bedroom floor. Years passed. I lived in different places. All Orphan Train Project songs and recordings can be used under the Creative Commons Attribution licence.