**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 04
Written 6th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
This was quite a quick write.
I was watching a film.
Someone said "No matter what the odds".
So I thought: what about a song called No…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 03
Written 6th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
I started this one first but got stuck in the surrealism of the opening line (it was "He" originally). I really didn't want to give the suntan…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 02
Written 3-5th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
I had most of it on the 3rd, but wanted a middle 8 (bridge).
Struggled a bit with energy and how busy I am at work...
I managed to write…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 05
Written 8th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
I was writing this from about 1am this morning before I went to bed, then on and off in between takes on the demos of the previous three today…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 03
Written 6th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
I started this one first but got stuck in the surrealism of the opening line (it was "He" originally). I really didn't want to give the suntan…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 01
Written Saturday-Sunday 1st-2nd February 2025
Written 1st-2nd Feb
Demo recorded 2nd Feb
****
I wasn't gonna do this FAWM thing this year, but they sent me an email...
And then I wrote…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 05
Written 8th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
I was writing this from about 1am this morning before I went to bed, then on and off in between takes on the demos of the previous three today…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 03
Written 6th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
I started this one first but got stuck in the surrealism of the opening line (it was "He" originally). I really didn't want to give the suntan…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 02
Written 3-5th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
I had most of it on the 3rd, but wanted a middle 8 (bridge).
Struggled a bit with energy and how busy I am at work...
I managed to write…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 04
Written 6th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
This was quite a quick write.
I was watching a film.
Someone said "No matter what the odds".
So I thought: what about a song called No…
Love this one too! I hear a big production anthem style someday. An arena full of people singing this at the top of their lungs! Fantastic! What a fun morning for me to listen to so much of your great music!
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 05
Written 8th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
I was writing this from about 1am this morning before I went to bed, then on and off in between takes on the demos of the previous three today…
Wow! This one really hits a deep emotional chord. Your writing is superb as usual, but this spare arrangement just feels like raw emotion. An instant fav!!!
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 03
Written 6th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
I started this one first but got stuck in the surrealism of the opening line (it was "He" originally). I really didn't want to give the suntan…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 05
Written 8th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
I was writing this from about 1am this morning before I went to bed, then on and off in between takes on the demos of the previous three today…
oh my, another beauty! Your voice is out of this world. The wee hours are great for creativity. The structure of this song is great and the melody!!! Bravo.
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 03
Written 6th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
I started this one first but got stuck in the surrealism of the opening line (it was "He" originally). I really didn't want to give the suntan…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 05
Written 8th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
I was writing this from about 1am this morning before I went to bed, then on and off in between takes on the demos of the previous three today…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 04
Written 6th Feb
Demo recorded 8th Feb
****
This was quite a quick write.
I was watching a film.
Someone said "No matter what the odds".
So I thought: what about a song called No…
Hello peeps!
Long time no public activity from me.
I've been working on a bunch of stuff with the guitarist from my old band. None of its ready...
However, I've been experimenting with different ways of jamming and doing demos. And in the…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 01
Written Saturday-Sunday 1st-2nd February 2025
Written 1st-2nd Feb
Demo recorded 2nd Feb
****
I wasn't gonna do this FAWM thing this year, but they sent me an email...
And then I wrote…
Hello again! Great to see you back :) Beautiful song!! You are off to a great start. Amazing what you can do with just guitar and voice...real musicianship.
Who Is My Neighbour - A A J Russe
Written sometime in 1992
Recorded 12th March 2022
The Shoebox Demos Vol 1
****
I wrote this 30 years ago when I was 29. There were a bunch of people killing other people. There were refugees.
By the…
**Song-writing Demo for FAWM 2025**
Song number 01
Written Saturday-Sunday 1st-2nd February 2025
Written 1st-2nd Feb
Demo recorded 2nd Feb
****
I wasn't gonna do this FAWM thing this year, but they sent me an email...
And then I wrote…
Song I wrote last year about struggling with identity...
lyrics below lol
it's hard for me to be myself when i don't know who i am
feel like i'm just an empty shelf filled with empty photographs
and i might be all alright if i don't think…
Woooo! Another powerful one from you (I think I've missed a few). Your stuff always seems to speak to something in what I've got going on... I've had a lot going on last few months... this speaks into that in a kind of surprising unexpected way. Many thanks.
Another song for the 2021 National Solo Album Month.
What do we think of this cat? I have an urge to get proggy right now and generally that requires a level of talent that I don't posses. I'm not putting myself down when I say that, it's…
Oh yeah, I'm with JMT, I really like this. I haven't been doing much, if any, listening on here for ages... popped in for a moment, saw his comment and hit play. Really glad I did
Bringing back a song from 2011 with a new twist. The song now has drums, bass, and an orchestral backend. This is hopefully part of a larger collection of me reworking older songs with orchestration.
Many thanks to Brian of A Beautiful Scene…
For Choir
Humility Do Not Come to You
Bet you do not know what I do
what I am doing what I m doing
Bet you do not understand
Yes I realize
that you think you think you are so big
and its hollow the night you stand
Humility…
I got nothing.
Insert some random post-apocalyptic sci-fi narrative here, involving Speak And Spells achieving sentience and taking over the world, only to be thwarted by the Amish.
Alternatively, "Based On A True Story" something something.
I've explained to Mrs R what Skynet is... Mrs R has explained to me what Speak And Spell is. We now count ourselves as enlightened... and sincerely hope it's not actually based on a true story!
I wrote this one yesterday. A little something to bring hope for the future.... there's always time to begin anew.
Thanks to Greg Connor and Mark Lofgren for their wonderful guitars and vocals on this one - recorded yet again around my kitchen…
A little celestial inspiration for this song.... I started it and Greg and Mark helped me finish it and then record around my kitchen table. Feel free to howl if you like it!
Blood Wolf Moon
VERSE 1
Blood wolf moon this January…
I dreamed this song once, with Eddie Vedder on vocals. It stuck in my mind, and I've finally got around to recording it. Sadly, I can only sing it in my own voice! Ah well :)
Yeah, it works well, even without Eddie Vedder... I get exactly the same sort of problem- in the dream about my latest one, it was Taylor Swift singing - it took me quite a bit to get over the initial disappointment when I found that my own voice didn't have quite the same effect as the version I'd dreamt.
This one makes me really happy. Soothing and a little snappy. Guitar, bass, lyre, bongo, bodhran (brush), vocals.
Lyrics:
Life is a roller coaster
Just turn on the toaster
I know you're up and down
Just make a happy sound
Flying a dragon…
2021 50/90 S0ng Number 51
I listen to this song and I am struck by how little there is to it. It sounds simple and basic and un-special in every way.
Why then was it such an absolute nightmare to sing. I mean... I had to dumb down the…
Oh yeah, the guitarmonies here are definitely awesome - they sound really good. I'm with you, sucker for any guitar harmonies, but these have got a bit of that celtic vibe that kinda lifts them above others.
2021 50/90 Song Number 52
And that's all she wrote, folks.
The first time I finished 50/90 was 2014 and I had exactly 50 songs. The second time was last year and I had 51. Now this year I have 52. The bar inches higher.
There is a…
Cool track - love the solo at the end. You've got a Standard 50s?? Which colour? I've been oggling them. The guitarist from my old band got a 60s a few months back in "Unburst" which is my favourite but they don't do it on the 50s (and I want the fatter neck). Anyway, escapes me now, but for some reason I got a Flying V instead! (which I LOVE, actually)
I misread that as "tropical" ... I do need to get my eyes tested ... so I found it wasn't quite as cheery as I'd first imagined! Cool tune, and sentiments I share sometimes.
There was a band in Dublin when I was a teenager called Alien Comfort, not brilliant but some of the members went on to form Aslan, who are pretty awesome.
http://www.aslan.ie/
I always liked the name so this piece of pseudo classical music…
Having put together an orchestral version of this amazing song, the haunting composition by Michael Kiwanuka (theme from Big Little Lies, Sky Atlantic) here is my take on a conventional band arrangement, and featuring the lovely voice of my friend…
2021 50/90 Song Number 44
Another swing thing... sort of. Not as overt as the others, and I really wasn't planning on it. The GarageBand session drummer suggested it and I figured the session drummer knows best, right?
All of the fun of…
2021 50/90 Song Number 48
Not bad. I like the phaser on the guitars in the A section, and I like the wah on the rhythm near the end. That wash of noise underneath is actually a guitar solo that was sort of hiding the slow wah effect so I…
Comments on Andrew Russe's stuff
I swoon ...I think its a beauty as it is
I'm the one who made the mess ......
shame your not about when I'm coming home from the pub ......another good one Andrew
Had another listen….. haunting…. I just love this one!
Europe, and in Ancient Russia
This hits home. You got me laughing. It’s all true!
Wow! I listened to this last night and again this morning. Lots of emotion in here. Well done.
Fun way to start a song! This is another great one. I love the energy of it. Those chord changes are amazing. oohhh, fun use of the voice too.
Love the chorus on this one!
Love this one too! I hear a big production anthem style someday. An arena full of people singing this at the top of their lungs! Fantastic! What a fun morning for me to listen to so much of your great music!
Wow! This one really hits a deep emotional chord. Your writing is superb as usual, but this spare arrangement just feels like raw emotion. An instant fav!!!
Your dip into the surreal has left my imagination spinning! Awesome!
oh my, another beauty! Your voice is out of this world. The wee hours are great for creativity. The structure of this song is great and the melody!!! Bravo.
"Brandishing his lethal daffodil" Genius! Good god, my man: Good god!
Awesome!
Outstanding! You are an inspiration
oohhhh. Also beautiful! Fun to come back and find your new music :)
Hello again! Great to see you back :) Beautiful song!! You are off to a great start. Amazing what you can do with just guitar and voice...real musicianship.
thanks for your comment andrew , this is great song , love the lyrics and vocals , great listen ,......cheers tony cee
this is brill love your voice , nice guitar to ,.....cheers tony cee
Comments made by Andrew Russe
Woooo! Another powerful one from you (I think I've missed a few). Your stuff always seems to speak to something in what I've got going on... I've had a lot going on last few months... this speaks into that in a kind of surprising unexpected way. Many thanks.
Oooh yeah. Saw the notification for this yesterday, that's why I popped in, to check it out. This is a mighty fine "just a little ditty"
Oh yeah, I'm with JMT, I really like this. I haven't been doing much, if any, listening on here for ages... popped in for a moment, saw his comment and hit play. Really glad I did
Yeah, like it.
Strangely hypnotic with the repeating note and then the tinkles and wotnot. Works really well for me.
Wooo... Digging this one.
Wow!
I've explained to Mrs R what Skynet is... Mrs R has explained to me what Speak And Spell is. We now count ourselves as enlightened... and sincerely hope it's not actually based on a true story!
Oh yeah. Lovely song. "The right person will arrive on time..." yep :)
Cool song. But, if you've been sat on it for a few months, she's probably forgotten you! OR.... yes! ...maybe she's sat on a similar song herself?
I'm playing a slow catch up game here... oh wow... my goodness... this one is gorgeous.
Yeah, it works well, even without Eddie Vedder... I get exactly the same sort of problem- in the dream about my latest one, it was Taylor Swift singing - it took me quite a bit to get over the initial disappointment when I found that my own voice didn't have quite the same effect as the version I'd dreamt.
Yep, made me happy too. I LOVE the lyrics. I hit fave just for the coaster/toaster thing, made me smile... then the two lines that followed... superb
Oh yeah, the guitarmonies here are definitely awesome - they sound really good. I'm with you, sucker for any guitar harmonies, but these have got a bit of that celtic vibe that kinda lifts them above others.
Cool track - love the solo at the end. You've got a Standard 50s?? Which colour? I've been oggling them. The guitarist from my old band got a 60s a few months back in "Unburst" which is my favourite but they don't do it on the 50s (and I want the fatter neck). Anyway, escapes me now, but for some reason I got a Flying V instead! (which I LOVE, actually)
I misread that as "tropical" ... I do need to get my eyes tested ... so I found it wasn't quite as cheery as I'd first imagined! Cool tune, and sentiments I share sometimes.
Yeah, that works for me. Cool track. And yeah, a great title.
Don't know the original, but I'm digging this. Mighty cool vocal.
Digging the space on this one.
Aw yeah - this is killer. Loving the Robin Trower / James Dewar vibe in the guitars and bass.