Night Flight - Awful Mess (Audiocard)

Produced and engineered by Caradog Jones Mixed and mastered by D. James Goodwin Recorded at Echo Zoo Studios and 123 Studios Artwork by George Gillies Players: Sam Holmes (Acoustic guitar, piano, vocals) Harry Phillips (Electric guitar, slide guitar, vocals) Caradog Jones (Bass guitar, electric guitar) Ella Hohnen-Ford (Vocals) Simon Treasure (Drums) --- Forward by Sam Holmes There’s this great Tim Buckley record called Happy Sad that I used to listen to when I was growing up. Whilst it’s a great record, it’s the title that always stuck with me. It encapsulates what I’m chasing when I write songs. Awful Mess is probably the clearest example of that push and pull - confessional on one hand, dismissive on the other. It feels very English to me: have a little moan, then get on with it. I wrote it as a small ditty back in 2021. I’d mostly play it solo until we tried recording it during the English Noise sessions, but we struggled to find the magic sonically. Eventually we shifted the focus away from the finger-picked acoustic and built it instead around a groove that let the melodies weave in and out more freely. The moment Simon laid down his drum part, everything clicked. Funny how that happens. We laboured over one version for more than two years, and this one came together in just three sessions. Every player plays their part pitch perfectly. For a lot of reasons, I think it’s one of the best songs I’ve written - that’s not fact, just a feeling. Sometimes you just need to have a little moan before you gather yourself and keep on moving.