7DWEL

ONE

TWO

THREE

FOUR

FIVE

SIX

SEVEN

ONE LAST WORD

PERFORMED BY ROGER O'DONNELL & MIRIAM WAKELING CELLO

COMPOSED AND PRODUCED BY ROGER O'DONNELL

MIXED BY PAUL CORKETT

ART BY IAN WRIGHT

A 99X/10 RECORDING

PUBLISHED BY ARCHANGELO SONGS 2022

FOR EACH ECSTATIC INSTANT

WE MUST AN ANGUISH PAY

IN KEEN AND QUIVERING RATION

TO THE ECSTASY

FOR EACH BELOVED HOUR

SHARP PITTANCES OF YEARS

BITTER CONTESTED FARTHINGS

AND COFFEES HEAPED WITH TEARS

EMILY DICKINSON

In March 2022 I was introduced to a local piano restorer and after talking to him about his work decided to have my Steinway restored. I’ve owned it for more than 20 years and it’s always been in need of some love and attention. Bill came to my house and we started chatting about pianos and keyboards and he asked me if I’d heard of the Una Corda. He said he was considering making one and asked if I would be interested in trying it out.

I immediately fell in love with the instrument, something about its percussive yet fragile sound just made me play it in a certain way, I instantly started playing arpeggios and repetitive themes… I ended up with 7 songs and a title, ‘7 Different Words For Love’.

Around the same time my friend Orian Williams was working on a movie in Georgia with Darren Le Gallo. I always share my work with Orian so I sent him my favourite from this new collection, ‘Two’. He played it to Darren and they asked me to score the movie they were working on, ‘Sam & Kate’.

Originally I thought it would just be a case of placing the 7 songs or edits in the places in the film where they wanted score but I was wrong and ended up writing about 50 new pieces using the same palette of piano, Una Corda, harmonium and cello. It was at times a super-frustrating experience and I came close to walking away several times. However, I persevered and my relationship with Darren blossomed both musically and personally. Finally he came to my studio with Orian and we finished the score in a couple of days (an “overnight success” that took 5 months).

At the end of this I still had the seven songs plus one other, ‘One Last Word’, which seriously Darren pulled out of me, and I have decided to release this collection as an album.

It’s only going to be digital for now with a single piece of art made by my friend from art school Ian Wright. We are going to make this available as a signed (him and me) limited edition art print in December. The album was mixed by Paul ‘Corky’ Corkett, a long time friend and incredible mix engineer. Playing cello is another friend Miriam Wakeling whose delicate interpretation of my writing is just about perfect.

The movie ‘Sam & Kate’, with my original score, is on general release from 11th November and VOD 18th November

The ‘7 Different Words For Love’ album will be available on all streaming platforms from 11th November