Today is a good day, Coldplay’s new single, Atlas, has surfaced online and with a visually wonderful lyrical video too. The song is the 1st track to be released as a single from The Hunger Games: Catching Fire soundtrack. Other acts featured on said soundtrack include Arcade Fire & Taylor Swift, with the latter no doubt bearing her soul in a heart wrenching composition about her latest & greatest relationship to date. Sigh.

Though sigh no more (#Mumford) as Atlas, a piano driven ballad, is the first original song Coldplay have ever recorded for a film. Not a bad way to start neither. Check out the song
and video below. The sequel to the 2012 best selling movie is in cinemas in November.

Coldplay are currently in the process of writing their sixth album, the follow up to 2011’s Mylo Xyloto, which sold over 8 million copies globally and, personally, after hearing Atlas, I’m highly anticipating their new album. Every album has got better as they’ve released them, yet they all maintain their greatness, Fuck it, next to the original Atlas video is my live cover of it on a clean electric guitar. You'll find more Coldplay covers in the videos section & YouTube.

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For the past two years since the completion of Supernova I have been writing & recording material for what eventually became my debut full length album. I didn’t want this to sound like anything I had previously written. I had to level up and push my musical abilities to greater heights. All roads lead to MindsEye….

The usual theory of my writing process would revolve around having a simple timeline of writing a new set of songs and giving myself a month or two to record said songs and eventually release them into the wild for all
to admire. Not this time, it’s done when it’s done.

That was in 2011, but to say that the last 2 years have been a fucking mental state of time is an understatement of epic proportions, minus the Michael Bay special effects, although there were some transforming robots involved at some stage, but that’s another story entirely. I have always had a passion for astronomy, not to be confused with astrology which revolves around star signs and their connection with astronomical phenomena and human activity. For me, the planets, the moons, stars and galaxies and the wonders of the universe are so grandiose in relative thought that it simply boggles the mind; how as great as we perceive to be, yet, so insignificant given the grand scale by which we exist within. In comparison to the universe, we are a mere teardrop in an ocean. It’s the essence of the beauty & wonder of our existence that I aimed to portray in this record.

So where does the term MindsEye fit in all of this? For me, it is a journey of the mind, when fantasy meets reality, through personal interpretation and perceptions of real emotions with a fusion of electric rock, ambience and cosmic soundscapes.

Visualisation. Your own personal interpretation is not a rudimentary path leading to one simple conclusion. When listening to music, what do you imagine? What do you visualise whilst listening to a record on your travels, or while relaxing after a long day of events? Now that you’re thinking about it, wonders will never cease to amaze you. That was my intention with MindsEye, to tell a story of love, lust, passion and optimism that takes you to places in your mind with blending themes of astronomical relativity and the human condition. The original storyboard for the album was 42 tracks that was approx 90 minutes in length and was essentially the musical score to an unwritten movie. After a lot of consideration I eventually decided on the 15 tracks that I felt comprised the album I always envisioned.

To me, MindsEye is everything I have ever wanted my record to sound like and represents my personal evolution as a singer, as a song writer and as a musician, displaying the marriage of vocal songs with instrumental compositions that span the genres of rock, prog, metal, experimental and electronica. All of my visual influences from art, culture and motion pictures combined with the music that inspired me the most from some of my favourite bands;  U2, R.E.M, Coldplay, Rush, Dream Theater, Iron Maiden, Steve Vai, Daft Punk, Radiohead & Vince DiCola et al are who helped me complete this musical chapter.

The great thing about finishing one chapter is knowing that there are more to come, especially seeing as I have 4 ep’s worth of music that is still yet to be heard, yet have already been written & recorded. For now, there's one more chapter to add to the journey. MindsEye is available now to download through all digital media stores and android markets worldwide.