Album Notes

"Peter Gabriel meets David Gray in one-man popster Nicholas Roy. His beautiful voice is full of weariness and drama; his instruments stretched and warped to create a whole dynamic world"
Beat Magazine

"I like a guy bold enough to list Elton John as an influence.." Richard Kingsmill, Triple J

…on inspiration

I saw this guy busking in the London Underground once. While playing a guitar with only four strings, he thumped a wooden box with his right foot, pressed two cymbals with a tambourine on the top with his left, and had a worn out maraca on a stick that responded as one of the cymbals fell on the downbeat. His microphone, which seemed to be made from a broken telephone receiver, gave his voice an old quality; the imperfection was amazing and magic! It transported me to the 20s or 30s, remixed with a jungle beat (I swear I heard vinyls scratching somewhere). It looked like fun, and he just used what he had.

…on recording in a shoebox

It made me think of when I was about 9 and I made a tape with some school friends. I had a red Yamaha SHS-10 ‘key-tar’ and an ancient Aiwa cassette recorder. When I needed to multi-track, I played another stereo at the same time. We actually ended up with some pretty crazy sounds! It was simple, but so much fun.

I guess not much has changed. I’m still doing the same thing really. I started recording this album with an antique PC that crashed every time I did a take; restarting the computer every ten minutes or so, keeping my fingers crossed that the damn thing would hold off having a nervous breakdown until after I’d done a new track. I basically used a keyboard and a guitar and a few odds and ends from around the house. If you listen closely you can hear car keys, and even pot and pans! I’ve been lucky enough to work with producer Jaime Jimenez, who has been able to somehow turn the necessity of home recording into "structured chaos"!

The thing about recording at home is that you’re not under time constraints. Sometimes I’d come home after a gig at 1am and put down a vocal track when I was really warmed up. Other tracks I’d get up at 9am and sing, just to get that husky sound. There never was a master plan, it all just came out and I went with what felt good. Driving between Jaime’s place and mine we would review what we had recorded, and often had to turn around and go back to re-record something.