The Work

I will discuss the solo releases here, maybe give some insight as to what the heck I was thinking when I did it. That’s important isn’t it?

The premise of all of Paul’s compositions is to tap into raw emotion as opposed to following any kind of process. He has resisted all external influences and retains 100% creative control, because to do this while being overseen by any other entity just would not work. The thing with emotions is that they can change overnight and sometimes you need to climb back out of one rabbit hole in order to find another, more suitable rabbit hole. Alice never had this problem.

There is a loose thread of inspiration throughout the last 3 albums (not including Nova Café). The elements are the fundamental building blocks of everything we see and feel, so the idea was to celebrate every element with a creative tip of the hat. Terra Nullius is loosely inspired by the element earth, Deep Blue Sky is the element air, and the latest, The Silent Sea, is of course, about the element of water. (you get one guess to figure out what the next album will be about).

The Silent Sea - March 28 2025

Element: Water - Emotional Resonance, symbol of rebirth, healing, fertility, change, dreaming, clarity, intuition.

The Silent Sea is a general snapshot of the time it was created, much like the previous releases. There is a lot of angst and worry in the world and this is reflected in the contents of this album, not to reinforce the fear, but to let others know they/we are not alone, and we are all better off if we can get along, work together and love one another. It’s as simple as that, it’s not complicated.

As the journey continues, and as our foundations have cracked (Terra Nullius), and our sense of security shatters (Deep Blue Sky), our emotions become unravelled. That was the impetus for this album.

Note the amazing artwork by my daughter, Samantha Cogley, surreal and poignant as always.

I also used Bastiaan Kuijt again for Mastering, and he knocked it out of the park again!

Deep Blue Sky - August 20 2022

Element: Air - Freedom, symbol of knowledge, perception, communication, creativity, and strategy.

Deep Blue Sky was forming just as Ukraine was brutally invaded. The album was always to be dedicated to the impoverished and the underdog, or those whose freedoms are compromised, and to celebrate how sometimes grace can win the day. I did find myself pivoting a little (not too much) to tip the hat to Zelensky and the bravery of that nation. But also, as always, Russians (the population) are also victims here. Russia and Ukraine are brethren, and it is heartbreaking to see that the few at the top would seek to destroy security and peace in such a way. Anyway, this all became a bit of a back drop to the album, and it fit so well, how could I not just run with that.

So generally, the album is directed at, since our foundations and preconceived ideas have started to crumble (as in Terra Nullius), our sense of security and freedom Seema compromised. Dealing with that is no small undertaking and we need to allow room for that to play out.

I have to thank Nancy Lashbrook (my wife) for lending her voice on All The Love Inside, and for not objecting to me to distorting it with the ‘Voice Of God’ tool…. it made it very interesting. Also credit must be given to her for Pebble, that was inspired by her Poem (called Pebble).

The Artwork was done to full effect by husband and wife team Veselic and Veselic in Belgrade Serbia.

This was also the first time I had worked with Bastiaan Kuijt in Amsterdam, Netherlands, who took care of the Mastering. What a tremendous job.

Terra Nullius - June 1st 2020

Element: Earth - Grounding, symbol of stability, nourishment, security, fertility, health, and home.

Terra Nullius (element earth - grounding) is a Latin expression that means ‘These lands belong to no-one’ that was originally a Roman legal term that states that these lands are open for declaring ownership. The term was alluded to in the Domesday book and often confused with the term ‘No Mans Land’ which referred to the land outside of the walls of the city of London

Later, the legal arm of the British Navy started using the term when finding and taking over territories.

I use it as an album title as we humans labor under the idea that we actually own land, when in reality, how can we? In fact, how can we claim to own anything. The allusion is that we arrive at some level of comfort by buying a nice house and surrounding ourselves with nice things, but really, it’s all temporary.

So, this album is a discussion on how we delude ourselves and a collection of notions, realizations and ideas, and, how our foundations and grounding sometimes needs to crumble in order to grow. It’s the first step!

Mastering was done by Resonant Mastering in Seattle, Washington.

Thanks to my wife, Nancy Lashbrook for adding her voice to the track Another.

Samantha Cogley, my daughter, did the brilliant artwork, and set the scene for all future art work.