For the first time since 2023, Matt Julian from The Speedways has chosen to share some of his private demo recordings with the world. As many songwriters do, Julian keeps a folder of rough or unfinished demos of songs that were never properly recorded and perhaps never will be. As a creative person, you sometimes have to explore all your idea ideas and see what works and what doesn't. The Wayside (songs that fell) is the title of Julian's latest collection of demos. These are songs that literally fell by the wayside. While these recordings were never intended for outside ears, there must have been something promising in each track that compelled Julian to let the world hear them. As a massive Speedways fan, I really enjoy hearing demo recordings of songs that didn't quite become Speedways songs but probably could have. Four of these songs were written this year, and one ("Best Friend") has been around forever. It might be fun to guess which of these songs (if any) got the closest to being properly recorded. I'm quite fond of "A Leg to Stand On," which is jangly and rainy-day melancholy in that distinctive Matt Speedway manner. I hear a little Buddy Holly shining through in "She Likes to Dance." With a proper recording budget and full band, "Nothing I Understand" could almost be a Def Leppard power ballad. "Bodies of Lovers" finds Julian in rare form lyrically. And certainly there has to be a reason why "Best Friend" has been rescued from the dustbin of history.
The next Speedways LP has been written and should be completed at some point next year. By the time it's released, we will have waited nearly four years in between albums. So we've got something big to look forward to in 2026. In the meantime, The Wayside is well-worth £3 and 12 minutes of your time. "____ is so talented that they piss away better songs than most people will ever write" is the joke we sometimes make about certain songwriters. Perhaps that's no joke at all.
No comments:
Post a Comment