Paul Ibberson is a Singer-Songwriter from London. His music has been described as intimate, authentic, gentle and beautiful.
Essentially one voice and a piano, the music resonates, simply and effectively.
“... put on some headphones and this will quietly blow you away...” someone said.
Here’s what Paul has to say about London Songs:
‘The London Songs came about because I wanted to strip away everything possible to be left with just the song.
I thought it would it be ok to leave everything pretty much as it was written, trusting that the songs would stand up on their own.
Having written some big-scale stuff before (even for orchestra), I wanted to keep it simple. Meaning, I wanted to know that the melodies and harmonies could be left as they are, without needing anything more.
Of course, I could add things later, but basically it would be just one voice and piano.
As it turns out, except for some low-key drums on some of the songs (“backstage drumming” is how Pete Dudley, my producer, describes it), nothing else was added. I assumed that we’d need a bass, but our piano had enough of that, so we left it.
I can’t think of many instances of drums without bass, only The White Stripes and Prince’s “When Doves Cry” come to mind but there the comparisons end (believe me)
I studied classical composition, so there’s bound to be something of that in these songs. Not to mention the music of Lennon and McCartney, Paul Simon, Brian Wilson, Carole King, Cat Stevens, Elton John, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Smokey Robinson, James Taylor and others. But it’s maybe the harmonies of Stephen Sondheim and classic film scores that most influence the chords that I use in my music. I make it my own, but of course it’s there...
I wrote the songs during July and August 2012 and they were recorded almost straight away at Pete’s studio in the London Docklands. It’s a great place to work; right on the river. During breaks, I’d sit on the bench next to the pier where the old police boat ferry service comes in and watch the water. Later, in the winter and the dark and cold wind, the photographs for the record were taken; inspirational in a different way.
The American Diner on the Wharf, with it’s 50’s formica tables and old Seeburg Consolette jukeboxes, was where I scribbled out the ideas for a new batch of songs, not yet recorded but now finished (despite lyric and chord sheets daubed with red and brown blotches from those squeezy bottles). Looking out at the Clippers and the Dome, there’d be members of an opera company breaking from rehearsals, painters, sculpters and photographers ordering their ‘Fatboy’s Specials’ before heading back to their work. This was a good place to make a record.’
Paul Ibberson studied composition with Dr’s Antonín Tučapský and Glen Morgan at Trinity College of Music in London, winning the Chappell and Halford composition prizes.
Essentially one voice and a piano, the music resonates, simply and effectively.
“... put on some headphones and this will quietly blow you away...” someone said.
Here’s what Paul has to say about London Songs:
‘The London Songs came about because I wanted to strip away everything possible to be left with just the song.
I thought it would it be ok to leave everything pretty much as it was written, trusting that the songs would stand up on their own.
Having written some big-scale stuff before (even for orchestra), I wanted to keep it simple. Meaning, I wanted to know that the melodies and harmonies could be left as they are, without needing anything more.
Of course, I could add things later, but basically it would be just one voice and piano.
As it turns out, except for some low-key drums on some of the songs (“backstage drumming” is how Pete Dudley, my producer, describes it), nothing else was added. I assumed that we’d need a bass, but our piano had enough of that, so we left it.
I can’t think of many instances of drums without bass, only The White Stripes and Prince’s “When Doves Cry” come to mind but there the comparisons end (believe me)
I studied classical composition, so there’s bound to be something of that in these songs. Not to mention the music of Lennon and McCartney, Paul Simon, Brian Wilson, Carole King, Cat Stevens, Elton John, Billy Joel, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Smokey Robinson, James Taylor and others. But it’s maybe the harmonies of Stephen Sondheim and classic film scores that most influence the chords that I use in my music. I make it my own, but of course it’s there...
I wrote the songs during July and August 2012 and they were recorded almost straight away at Pete’s studio in the London Docklands. It’s a great place to work; right on the river. During breaks, I’d sit on the bench next to the pier where the old police boat ferry service comes in and watch the water. Later, in the winter and the dark and cold wind, the photographs for the record were taken; inspirational in a different way.
The American Diner on the Wharf, with it’s 50’s formica tables and old Seeburg Consolette jukeboxes, was where I scribbled out the ideas for a new batch of songs, not yet recorded but now finished (despite lyric and chord sheets daubed with red and brown blotches from those squeezy bottles). Looking out at the Clippers and the Dome, there’d be members of an opera company breaking from rehearsals, painters, sculpters and photographers ordering their ‘Fatboy’s Specials’ before heading back to their work. This was a good place to make a record.’
Paul Ibberson studied composition with Dr’s Antonín Tučapský and Glen Morgan at Trinity College of Music in London, winning the Chappell and Halford composition prizes.
