Jude<\/em>, which he pointed out featured serious emotional themes, to be lighter and more fun. He asked Clayton to pore through his archival tapes and find several songs that felt \u201ceasiest and most comfortable and most relatable.\u201d Julian added that he wanted to work on material that \u201cmore than anything \u2026 gives us a little bit of excitement and gets our toes tapping.\u201d<\/p>\nLennon eventually settled on four songs, and began working with Clayton during a series of monthly visits to London. He said he wanted the completed tracks to keep the raw sound of the original recordings, including his vocals.<\/p>\n
\u201cA lot of these tracks were very much back-bedroom vocals. I mean, the original vocals that I put down \u2026 as a demo,\u201d Lennon noted. \u201c[A]nd we didn\u2019t really change a thing. We just cleaned the tapes up, so to speak. \u2026 There [were] a few new parts we played here and there to make it gel together a little better, each independently as songs.\u201d<\/p>\n
Julian also shared that some AI technology was used to enhance the original vocals, not unlike the process The Beatles utilized to clean up the 1970s demo his late father, John Lennon, recorded that served as the basis of their 2023 single, \u201cNow and Then.\u201d<\/p>\n
As Julian pointed out, \u201cIf you\u2019d have heard where [these recordings] came from\u2014I mean, literally a dusty old cassette in a box in a basement of an office\u2014to where they are now, it\u2019s quite staggering. And even since we finished those, the technology has jumped in leaps and bounds to the next level of restoration of older works. \u2026 [E]verybody\u2019s thinking AI is bad in many respects. Actually, it can be very helpful. It\u2019s just how you use it.\u201d<\/p>\n
About the Song \u201cbecause\u2026\u201d<\/h3>\n Julian explained that \u201cbecause\u2026,\u201d like the majority of the tracks on the EP, steered away from dark themes, and simply was about some relationship trouble he was experiencing as a younger man.<\/p>\n
He maintained that \u201cbecause\u2026\u201d and two of the other tunes \u201care pure 20-year-olds in love and lust, and lost. Love, lust, and lost. That probably sums it up, really.\u201d<\/p>\n
Lennon further explained that these songs were basically about \u201closing out on a girlfriend or something happening within a relationship that \u2026 you thought wasn\u2019t going to happen, but it did. And so \u2026 you get a little upset and angry, and you think karma\u2019s gonna get them, or you hope.\u201d He continued, \u201cI mean, there\u2019s nothing more to it than that. It\u2019s just rock, pop music in its simplest form and simplest delivery. There\u2019s no hidden agenda here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Musically, Julian said \u201cbecause\u2026\u201d was influenced by some the New Wave bands he loved during the 1980s.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would have to say that XTC was certainly an inspiration,\u201d he shared. \u201cI mean, [my 1984 hit] \u2018Too Late for Goodbyes\u2019 had a reggae element to it \u2026 and XTC, especially with \u2018[Making Plans for] Nigel,\u2019 [had] this kind of ska [style]. And I also love The Police, too. And so, it was a little bit of \u2026 my own version of that, I guess.\u201d<\/p>\n
(Photo by Robert Ascroft)<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n