Glass World

 

"Glass World" was the second single from "The World Through A Mirror", and it was released on iTunes on December 18th 2013, almost two years after the album came out. Despite the long gap, I wanted to release it as a single because it's a radio-friendly sing-a-long song (and also it seemed silly to release a single from the "Four Sided" EP, since there were only four songs on it).

Compared to the video for "Don't Worry About It", the music video for "Glass World" was finished relatively quickly (roughly six months!) I originally had no idea what the video should be about, then one day I was walking across the Hungerford Bridge in London and I saw a busker playing water glasses, so I took a video of him, and that ended up being the opening shot of the video (water glasses, glass world - get it? haha)

Since then, every time I went into London and saw a busker or a street performer I would take a shot of them - I combined these shots with footage of myself on the train, the London Eye, on in the London Aquarium, and after several days of intense editing the video was finished! It's simpler than the "Don't Worry About It" video, but I'm just as proud of it and I think it suits the song very well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mr Bailey

In late 2012, during the recording of the "Four Sided" EP, I also recorded "Mr Bailey", a song which was inspired by James Stewart's character in the classic Christmas movie "It's A Wonderful Life" (and the video is just clips from the film). I always intended it to be the B-side of my next single - it just took a year for that to finally happen!

I wish I was able to write character/story-based songs more often - sometimes it's just easier to write one based on an existing character/story, like in the case of this song (and also "The Yellow Umbrella"). And even though it's not technically a Christmas song, the festive arrangement (including jingle bells and music box) certainly gives it the feel of one.