This instalment of ‘Folk & Mirrors’ is a reflection on our first experience of writing, recording and releasing music. We have released six original singles from our debut EP ‘Acoustic Sessions’. The Full EP will be released on 23/12/2023 which includes two bonus tracks (popular covers from our live sets).
The first original Act Happy song was ‘Drunk’. Rhiannon wrote the lyrics and found the
melody and a basic chord progression on the piano. Jax worked his magic by tweaking a few chords and coming up with a strumming pattern that really brought the song to life. We played the song all the way through in Rhiannon's garden. A neighbour opened their window to clap and tell us how much they enjoyed it. We felt like real ‘songwriters’ for the first time, and to this day ‘Drunk’ is still our most popular song.
‘Susan’ came next. The main riff was written by Jax in 2020. He brought it to Rhiannon with the idea of writing a folk song about a witch. It was the start of Act Happy beginning to write more collaboratively, as Rhiannon came up with the lyrics while Jax was describing his ideas. A carpenter falls in love with a witch called Susan. She is then burned at the stake and the carpenter seeks revenge. We have some more fun facts about the writing of Susan which we will share as part of our vlog (coming soon!).
‘Just A Soul’ is what we call our marmite song- people either love it or hate it. Over time it has become a favourite with a lot of our regular audience members. It was a tough one to write - Rhiannon wrote the lyrics about feeling insecure in a relationship but it felt too much like a sad ballad. It needed some punchy guitar to really bring out the angst of the song. Jax wrote the beautiful intro - dark and intriguing - and did a lot of work on the strumming pattern and transitions to make ‘Just A Soul’ the song it is today.
There's one single that is a bit of an outlier due to it's hopeful disposition - ‘Love Me More’. It still has touches of sadness and doubt, but the overall message is quite positive. The lyrics are inspired by a conversation Rhiannon had with her partner after they listened to ‘In My Life' by the Beatles together. It took quite a few attempts to find the right strumming pattern to fit the feel of the song, but that is Jax's speciality! The recording has a slightly different ending to the live version which is something to listen out for.
‘Things’ is a very personal song for Rhiannon about her divorce. Rather than using a piano to work on the melody
and chords, the song was written entirely on guitar. We don't play it live as often as some of the other songs, but when we do it always prompts emotive reactions. There is only one harmony used on the recording,- a simple yet effective way to emphasise a particularly poignant lyric.
The final song on the EP is ‘Try’ - a favourite of Jax's. The lyrics have a more abstract feel than some of the other tracks which makes the meaning more open to interpretation. Jax wrote a beautiful guitar part for this song. The intricate finger-picking is contrasted by the rich, warm sound of the strumming that builds into the chorus. We made use of vocal layering on the recording to create a more enchanting, dreamy sound.
Our debut EP was recorded at Cobra Music Studios in Newport with Jordan. We are so grateful for his input and attention to detail. It was a really fun but productive day and we are so happy with the results. Jordan took the time to discuss each song with us thoroughly before recording to ensure that we achieved everything we wanted in terms of sound, mood, and emotion. We have recently recorded our second EP at Cobra Studios and look forward to sharing it next year!
All of the singles from ‘Acoustic Sessions' are available to stream now, and the full version with the bonus tracks will be released on 23/12/2023. Get in touch and let us know what you think! Join our mailing list to keep up to date with new music releases and the launch of our vlog.