Not Even My Closest Friends - sleeve notes - . You Know She

I met her in the hallway just at the break of dawn 

I was all out of battery, and a long way from home 

As the algorithms fluttered I felt so confused 

You took me in hand, and you showed me what to do 

 

Two weeks later inside a Brighton flat 

With marble floor ways, and gold plated taps 

You showered me with presents, and the warmth of your bed 

The little tricks you showed me really turned my head 

 

My, my little angel 

Can’t bear to see you cry 

But oh my little angel 

You know she can’t be denied 

 

You asked if it was OK to bring a few friends round 

Just a little party with drinks, and light and sound 

And after all you’d done for me well how could I say no 

To a tight fitting costume, and a naughty little show 

 

And then when you mentioned the need for sacrifice 

You know I was the first to sharpen the knife 

The freeing of the spirit, the cutting of the flesh 

All on the kitchen table laid out for magick sex

I had recorded a busy bubbling little sequence/synth pattern, singing over it resulted in two very different vocal lines - one was a first verse about meeting somebody in a hallway being "all out of battery and a long way from home". Lyrically it was a rehash of a phrase (By Steven Ball) from the Storm Bugs “New Resolutions” track namely “I went out on my own I even left my phone at home”, and the "meet me on the corner" verse from Lindisfarne. The second vocal was almost Roy Orbison-esque - "my little angel" and seemed to suggest a different direction altogether. It took a while to do what was really obvious - combine the two approaches. 

 

Having arranged the rendezvous in verse one it wasn't entirely clear what should happen next.  Around this time I watched an online video about the exploits of sometime Hastings resident Aleister Crowley who enmeshed his willing disciples of both sexes into his majick circle though a process of rituals. This scenario of a desire for (often mutual) destruction and debasement then loosely became the basis for the remainder of the song.

 

Drums, bass and a time stretched organ part were added and the track seemed to be grooving up nicely, but was perhaps a touch too creepy. A last minute addition of a double tracked vocal gave some distance, and sound effects snippets from an old B & W film gave just a hint of humour taking the track over the finish line.