The Gladiator, Armageddon and Lord Of The Rings sound Tracks

I’ve always been a really big fan of film soundtracks – I probably listen to them more than anything else! While writing “In Moment // In Memory”, I knew from the offset I wanted to make the album more orchestral, so I turned to some of my favourite scores for inspiration. Whilst composing these parts, I pushed myself harder than in any other aspect of the writing process as I knew it had to be all or nothing. An interesting fact is that the string and brass sections took longer to put together than any other instrument on the album.

‘Behind The Devils Back’ – The Album by Fightstar

The first of ‘the big four’ albums I will talk about in this article that played a massive part in inspiring the construction and composure of this album. Fightstar have been one of my favourite bands since their inception and I could have easily chosen any of their albums for this list, but for me, the way aggression is portrayed within ‘Behind The Devils Back’ is pure brilliance. The blend of melody and brutality is perfectly executed in an intelligent manner and the whole album is pieced together fantastically. There are also very catchy vocal lines notably in the chorus’s to ‘Sink With The Snakes’, ‘Murder All Over’ and the outro to ‘Overdrive’… which is my favourite part of the whole album!

‘Good Grief: What I learned from loss’ – Elaine Mansfield’s TEDx Talk

My father died the day before we left for a European run of shows. He had told me that whatever happened, he wanted me to go, so with the help of my band and the support of my wonderful partner and family I got through it- to this day I’m still not quite sure how. What I faced when I returned from this tour was arguably one of the most difficult times in my life. My friend suggested I watch some talks on dealing with grief and ‘Good Grief: What I learned from loss’, was the first video I watched before I started my own journey through grief counselling. Elaine’s words really helped me, and she was kind enough to let us sample her voice and wisdom on the first track of the album ‘//Denial’.

‘Vheissu’ – The album by Thrice

Another member of ‘the big four’… probably one of my most favourite albums of all time, and one I regularly go back to ‘Vheissu’ for inspiration. I just can’t find fault with any part of this album, and I learnt a lot from the dynamic shifts (which are more apparent in the tracks‘ Red Sky’ and ‘Music Box’) – It really made me want to experiment with the way we traditionally constructed our songs for Our Hollow, Our Home.

Loss And Gain’ – The poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

A poem that I remembered reading at school. I don’t recall why it stuck out in my mind but while I was writing the lyrics for ‘In Memory’, the line from the poem ‘The lowest ebb is the turn of the tide’ came to mind. I went back and reread the poem, which inspired me to reflect on some of the sets of lyrics we had already worked on and try and add another dimension to them.