martin stirrup
Vicarious Pleasures
A more reflective collection of songs, though with the usual range of styles. Some musings on life and mortality, with the album dedicated to the memory of my great friend Steve Franks, who just about fought his way to his three score years and ten.
Release date: May 2020
Play album
Free download
1
VP 01 Come Inside
The opening track of my CD Vicarious Pleasures. A song of longing. Soft Rock? Vaguely poppy?
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:58
2
VP 02 Warm Hand
If you have anything to pass on to your family, why wait till you're dead... I heard the phrase 'giving with a warm hand' used to describe this and it struck a chord. The song is kind of bluesy...
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:21
3
VP 03 A Long Time
a country folkish celebration of a long relationship
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:49
4
VP 04 I Did Nothing
A gentle ballad about doing nothing.
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
2:53
5
VP 05 Blarney Stone
A jolly folk number about kissing the Blarney Stone...
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:37
6
VP 06 It Isnt the Craic
A quick folky summary of an Irish tour - great music, but so much more... and the tales are all true!
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:42
7
VP 07 Protected Waters
An allegoric folk song written in a Norweigan Fjiord.
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
4:25
8
VP 08 Three Score Years and Ten
A rockabilly musing on aging and mortality... quite upbeat!
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:12
9
VP 09 We're Getting Old
An old-time ukulele love song
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:25
10
VP 10 Vicarious Pleasures
A hymn-like acoustic song, based around some lines by Lucretius as translated by Dryden, which are inscribed around Mussenden Temple above Castlerock in Northern Ireland.
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
4:18
11
VP 11 I Did It To Myself
A moody song of self-inflicted loss...
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:27
12
VP 12 Same Way With Me
A dreamy, layered pop/folk song (? I'm hopeless at guessing genres...)
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:21
13
VP 13 Worse Things Happen at Sea
A hymn-like acoustic song about the complexities of relationships, compared to the major problems of life.
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:05
14
VP 14 Tell It Like It Is
a soft-rock number about the dangers of oversensitivity and fear of causing offence...
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:53
15
VP 15 Overload
A jolly soft rock / poppy song about a relationship taking off...
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
2:52
16
VP 16 Corona Corona
A soft-rock Lockdown rant...
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:37
17
VP 17 Puja
An Indian-inspired song with sitar and drone.
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
3:19
18
VP 18 Half a Century
I wrote and recorded this in a day or so after visiting my great friend and collaborator Steve Franks at home for the last time before he died. So all a bit rough and raw and emotional.
Lossless, MP3 (320 kbps)
4:11
