Geoffrey Armes

Sweet Breakfast II · 2 days ago

One of the sidebar tropes of this tune, that opens the forthcoming Inside A Wall is that it self-consciously references three major dance/club musics that have been around the last thirty years. The disco/funk thing is in the guitars, house piano is lurking in the verses, and the drums reflect the hip-hop/funk thing. Maybe the bass draws on the reggae/african thing too…

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Wilmersdorfer · 8 days ago

This ‘lyric’ was and is an impressionistic ‘first take’ jotting in a notebook many years ago:

On the pedestrian precinct
Wilmersdorfer
The heat is the kind that makes you lazy about everything

It sits so oppressive on your back
Everyone has the uncomfortable glow of humidity

This video shows the street, but in very different weather conditions, and a quieter energy.

I got a tchibo coffee and sat by the fountains

Now converted to flower beds, you can see these at 3’30” on the video.

I can hear a bass drum from a busker up the road
A woman extolls the virtues of her produce
Through a mic on a stand opposite
A white mini-dress and bobby sox catches my attention for a second
But even the children playing in the fountain are more subdued than usual…

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Inside A Wall · 15 days ago

October 19th

October 20th Upstairs At Googies

November 13th Lulu’s, Port Jefferson

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Jottings and that · 28 days ago

Needing bio ideas, and new blurbs for a new release, here are some sketches…..

“Inside A Wall” loosely documents the experience of a young character living in West Berlin during the early nineteen-eighties. Ignoring perhaps more obvious tropes of cold-war espionage and the like, the disk begins with the narrator’s first arrival in the city and border-line negotiation (Sweet Breakfast, Believe Me), his nostalgia for the small-town love and life he has left behind (Huge Sky, The North Sea), his adventure in the city’s unique demi-monde (Things Are Strange, Memory, She Isn’t Here, Cafe Einstein) and his eventual realisation that it is indeed, time to move on (Unfortunate Paradise).

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UK born Geoffrey Armes first visited West Berlin during the nineteen-eighties, and the flavour of his first few months there had a profound effect on him. One that stayed with him until some thirty years later he exhumed the notebooks kept during that period and re-vitalised the musical fragments conceived that first year. These constitute his new release, “Inside A Wall”.

“Inside A Wall,” is now long term NYC resident Armes’ first full on vocal release since “Noor,” 1976. Ranging from full-blooded rock numbers such as “Things Are Strange” to the Dub influenced “Believe Me,” and “She Isn’t Here,” to the world music tinged acoustic “Unfortunate Paradise” this release scans thirty years stylistic development that has happened in both music at large and Armes’ own artistic development. Armes puts his own indelible stamp on genres past and present, rendering a stylistic melange of his own creation that reverberates with a sense of history as well as fiery modernity.

Although an accomplished multi-instrumentalist, who has often played everything on both his releases and those of other artists, this time producer Armes chose to include performances from other musicians, some also in NYC, others as far way as Wales. Most of these these players have become the core band now performing music from “Inside a Wall,” live in East Coast club venues. Armes juggles this with producing and recording other artists in his Manhattan based studio and his work as composer/improvisor/accompanist at the Neighborhood Playhouse.

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Inside A Wall

Lyrics/Credits

SWEET BREAKFAST

Driving east  I go on and on and on into the morning sun I saw her from the clouds saw her kissed by that same sun knew then I could stay wouldn’t run
dismantled her battlements mounted her ramparts slowly entered therein paid the price  smiled at the border line such a time the jokes and the laughter this helped me pass

Sweet breakfast, a lovers memory On a balcony  Watching people  In workaday finery In a new town my new home Early in the spring
bq. Feeling ready and not to roam I’ll stay a while if I may Today, tomorrow, we’ll see Torn and tattered  Dreams scattered
On the floor You’ll close an opening door Nor for the first Or the last  Time
Unveil for me Time will  Unveil for me
A lovers memory

ORCHESTRATION: The West Hurley Orchestra
LEAD GUITAR: Tom Desisto
PERCUSSION: Alif Nacht

BELIEVE ME

Talking, though I’m feeling rather strange
Seems I have to rearrange
I have to make a change
Walking, and I’m wondering what to say
Thinking about today
When you threw it all away
And I’m staring down the street
Watching all the feet

Believe me cause my life was there
And I said shout
Shout it out

Talking and I’m wondering what to say
Walking and I’m wondering about the day
How I let you get away
How I didn’t make you pay

Believe me – my life was there
I shout

LEAD GUITAR: Todd Evans
PROGRAMMING: Myra Armes

THE NORTH SEA

I was in a northern town
Brick streets and warm cafes
A busy market
I saw you standing there
A cold wet wind blew from the North Sea
We took the narrow streets
Past the old tall church
And the long road
With the narrow thirties housing
Green flat fields
Intersected by ice shorn water
And tall empty trees
Straight main roads
Through ribboned villages

Seems there must be
Somewhere else to go
Can you fight the flow of lands?
When you are in place
Grey skies kiss the sun
Think in the night of the lands where your eyes first opened
And the cold wet winds blew from the North Sea
In a small town
Long way from home
Dreams

SONICS: Ali Hashemi
ORCHESTRATION: The West Hurley Orchestra
EBOW: Aaron Meacham

CAFÉ EINSTEIN

So this is goodbye
The cafe lights are low
Please stand to leave
But please leave easy
There’s nothing else to say
I took the voyeur chair
The last line to share

Children came on motorbikes
Department store dreams rode behind
So lovely on all the roads of this land
This is goodbye

You on the sugar
Look across at me
You tell me it’s over
And I am free
Oh stand to go
Please please leave it easy
There’s nothing else I can say

LEAD GUITARS: Kevin McLeod
PERCUSSION: Alif Nacht

THE HUGE SKY (Northern Town)

People housed in farms  Dream on  All safe and self assured You’ll hold your love though leaving In the townships of the north It always seemed so easy there amongst the farming lands There’s something of nobility  On days you work with hands

In the huge skies of a northern land The heart will understand How the water claims the land

The waterside, the laps of shore,
Where dijks stand tall and grey I drove out through the fog and mist on  An early winter’s day Now I’m back in the huge sky And the journeys that I made I’ll show you where my memories are And the love you have will stay

Back in a northern land The heart will understand How the water claims the land

BASS: Tom FitzPatrick
BACKING VOCAL: Tess Savigear
LEAD GUITAR: Kevin McLeod

WILMERSDORFER

On the pedestrian precinct
Wilmersdorfer
The heat is the kind that makes you lazy about everything

It sits so oppressive on your back
Everyone has the uncomfortable glow of humidity
I got a tchibo coffee and sat by the fountains

I can hear a bass drum from a busker up the road
A woman extolls the virtues of her produce
Through a mic on a stand opposite
A white mini-dress and bobby sox catches my attention for a second
But even the children playing in the fountain are more subdued than usual…

PERCUSSION: Alif Nacht

SHE ISN’T HERE

Song and Sunshine A small TV She isn’t here So I write

Soft living A cobbled dream Old towpaths  By the river’s stream

I’ll come here tomorrow With hope to Share some farewell Good moments to tell

The sun stabs the pathways That ripple to the sea This longing goes with me Endlessly

I study a little Learn from your lover Learn from the past you made Learn from what you trade 
She isn’t here

DRUMS: Jim Bertini
EBOW: Aaron Meacham

THINGS ARE STRANGE

things are strange here in the city
why must they always seems so loud?
walking strong within the city
feeling lost within the crowd
things are strange

yes the girls they all look pretty
but I hear them think out loud
walking tall but feeling gritty
looking down from in a cloud
things are strange

stealing out into the night
this is how I plan my flight
watching others fight their fight
I really care unless it’s my plight

things are strange
why must it always be so hard?

all the names that hit my pity
Gabi, Jaqui and Irene
adventures found within this city
long lost games and subtle pain
things are strange

GUITARS: Tom Desisto and Kevin McLeod
PERCUSSION: Alif Nacht

MEMORY

It’s just a memory,
Shadowline…

ACOUSTIC GUITAR: Aaron Meacham

UNFORTUNATE PARADISE

Hose down the streets
Wash all the sheets
I’m leaving this
Most unfortunate paradise

Straighten the pleats
Time to blow away
Some old obsessions
Surrender some old possessions

Clean off my feet
Make sure the room is neat
I’m leaving this encroached paradise

I’ve lived inside a wall
Time to let it fall
I’m leaving this regrettable paradise

EBOW: Aaron Meacham

All Songs By Geoffrey Armes, from fragments first mooted in 1982:

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Unfortunate Paradise · 47 days ago

An ‘acoustic’ closer: voice, acoustic guitar, piano, electric piano, three electric guitars (including an ebow), udu, ubang, rainstick, egg.

Hose down the streets
Wash all the sheets
I’m leaving this
Most unfortunate paradise

Straighten the pleats
Time to blow away
Some old obsessions
Surrender some old possessions

Clean off my feet
Make sure the room is neat
I’m leaving this encroached paradise

I’ve lived inside a wall
Time to let it fall
I’m leaving this regrettable paradise

Work in progress…..........

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Breathing In The Years · 55 days ago

You are still wrecked among heathen dreams.

(Yeats)

Digging through notebooks, lyric, music fragments, now seven songs in…. heavy guitar overdubs from Kevin McLeod and Tom Desisto

Things Are Strange

Things are strange here in the city
why must they always seems so loud?
walking strong within the city
feeling lost within the crowd
things are strange

yes the girls they all look pretty
but I hear them think out loud
walking tall but feeling shitty
looking down from in a cloud
things are strange

stealing out into the night
this is how I plan my flight
watching others fight their fight
I don’t really care unless it’s my plight

things are strange
why must it always be so hard?

all the names that hit my pity
gabi, jaqui and irene
adventures found within this city
long lost games and subtle pain
things are strange

we all lived inside a wall

a meeting with ISLPR to discuss an autuumn launch…

Nylon string “Classical” guitar overdubs by Todd Evans on

Believe Me

Talking, though I’m feeling rather strange
Seems I have to rearrange
I have to make a change
Walking, and I’m wondering what to say
Thinking about today
When you threw it all away
And I’m staring down the street
Watching all the feet

Believe me cause my life was there
Makes me shout

Talking and I’m wondering what to say
Walking and I’m wondering about the day
How I let you get away
How I didn’t make you pay

Believe me – my life is there
I shout
Believe me cos my life is there
Wondering if I dare

From where is the performing and singing now? How much is sunk back in the man/boy who walked then, and how much is (re) animated by the boy/man working in feverishly short bursts now?

Also, needs a title.

“Why All This Geography”?

Too broad a question though, “things”, strange or not, need to be more specific. We had a good meeting Friday though, to discuss all that — more again please.

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Role or Roll Call · 62 days ago

So far on this project:

Loren Barnese

backing vocal

Jim Bertini

drums, sound engineer

Tom Desisto

guitars, orchestration, sound engineer, mastering engineer

Todd Evans

guitars

Tom FitzPatrick

bass

Ali Hashemi

sonics, sound design, synths, sound engineer

Kevin McLeod

guitars

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Notes about notes II · 70 days ago

Today I realised that this music is all quite strongly auto-biographical, and I’m thinking to tell a bit more about the source moments and images of the songs, as some are specific. With the caveat that this doesn’t limit the music to only being about my images — they are deliberately general enough for other peoples lives to be found in them. In “Northern Town” for example, some very local references have been expunged for the sake of enabling the bigger picture. But I am starting to belive that the background story is something people want, and I can relatively painlessly give.

Working tracklist so far:

She Isn’t Here
Café Einstein
The North Sea
A Northern Town
Sweet Breakfast
Things Are Strange

I do want to do a release event…

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The North Sea · 77 days ago

I was in a northern town
Brick streets and warm cafes
A busy market
I saw you standing there
A cold wet wind blew from the North Sea
We took the narrow streets
Past the old tall church
And the long road
With the narrow thirties housing
Green flat fields
Intersected by ice shorn water
And tall empty trees
Straight main roads
Through ribboned villages

Seems there must be
Somewhere else to go
Can you fight the flow of lands?
When you are in place
Grey skies kiss the sun
Think in the night of the lands where your eyes first opened
And the cold wet winds blew from the North Sea
In a small town
Long way from home
Dreams

128 bpm

Section A: Cm Fm B flat A flat

Section B:
a maj 7
a flat maj 7
b flat maj 7
a flat maj 7
d flat maj 7
b maj 7
d maj 7
c maj 7
b maj 7
b flat maj 7
a flat maj 7

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Cafe Einstein · 82 days ago

I’ve blurbed about this place before, for example, this:

Heine, Vocoders · Jun 6, 09:04 PM

I (all too?) often roll out this quote:

Denk ich an Deutschland in der Nacht, Dann bin ich um den Schlaf gebracht, Ich kann nicht mehr die Augen schließen, Und meine heißen Tränen fließen

from Heinrich Heine, written while resident in Paris, where he articulates a deep homesickness. These words, written before all the events in 20th century history that gave them a new kind of political gravitas, were a personal nostalgia, and possibly not intended with the weight with which they are often imbued now. I first came across them in the NME, quoted by, I think, Chris Bohn (or Biba Kopf as he became at one stage) in a special on German bands. I was in Berlin at the time, Cafe Einstein specifically, long before it became a chain, and do note that paper cups would never have been allowed in the original venue. February, strong coffee, a warm seat near the window, weak sun glimpsed through the tree (linden/lime?) branches of Kurfurstenstrasse. A good moment.

And this Einstein story is true, but what is really true is that I met a girl there, when I was ‘the pianist’. A red haired German who invited me to share her table along with her French friend who’d spent time imprisoned in the DDR. It turned out they both worked at Haus am Checkpoint Charley. Irene is, I think, still in Berlin, a feminist writer/scholar. I fell into a ‘gulph of love’ as Yeats has it, almost immediately, and she fed this and flattered me, without realising I suspect. It didn’t work out, she was both sweet and bitter in the giving me back, and I mourned her. At this time Einstein sugar cubes featured astrological signs, and when I ventured back into the cafe after the non event that broke, I found one on the plate next to me, adorned with a Scorpio symbol. Her sign. From there I concocted this lyric, in a detached ironic fashion seeking to make a pop song of knowing triteness and insincerity, as an interlude within a gallery soundscape I had been commissioned to create. I don’t think I really succeeded but the song has stayed with me. Quirky and supple it’s adapted well to various situations. I’d like to re imagine it one final time though, and put it to rest. Here’s the original lyric, as it lies in the original notebook (although it’s clear this is an already organised version)

So this is goodbye
The cafe lights are low
Please stand to leave
But please leave easy
There’s nothing else to say
I took the voyeur chair
The last time to share

The next three lines were birthed one morning in another cafe entirely. Drinking early morning coffee I watched a very young courting couple, him with barely a moustache on his face, arrive on a motorbike and buy them both ice cream before revving off into the warm spring sunshine…

Children came on motorbikes
Department store dreams rode behind
So lovely on all the roads of this land
This is goodbye

You on the sugar
Look across at me
You tell me it’s over
And I am free
Oh stand to go
Please please leave it easy
There’s nothing else I can say

So this is in the pile of this ‘big project’ I am now working on, aiming at an autumn release, with live support (a band) and publicity and so forth.

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