It is Friday 19th October and your weekend starts here. I have not been appointed by the government in order to tell you this. It is not scientifically correct. But you might as well go with the idea your weekend starts now.

 

So, I've been meaning to write a little note to you all for ages now and am only just getting round to it now. Really, I just want to give each one of you the sincerest thanks for being on this mailing list and also a similarly massive appreciation for your enforced patience this year. I know we said we'd have four albums out this year, and obviously that's going to be a bit tricky now! But the four album plan is ticking along very nicely, the ticking has just lasted a little bit longer than we'd first imagined!

 

We were invigorated by the idea of rushing to the pressure clock of making four albums in a year. It seemed a bold and exciting plan and it seemed impossible and that's why it was so exciting. And we could have done it if just meeting the schedule was all that mattered to us. But then we started making this latest record, back towards the end of May, and it very quickly became something that went well beyond what we'd imagined, something a lot more exciting than the plan itself, and something that needed a bit of extra care and attention.

 

 

I could give you more specific examples of what I mean but I think it's probably best not to venture too far beyond the mystic curtain of making-record-land. But in short, it just wouldn't have been right to release this album out before it had "got there". Where exactly "there" is, I can't really explain, but you know when you're at it! And we very nearly are now. But I'm so glad we've hung on for this extra bit of time, because some things have happened recently that were clearly meant to all along, and if we hadn't have been patient ourselves, those rabbits would have never been able to come out of their holes. *

 

 

(*an apology here to any of my @fyfedangerfield twitter followers - i am here repeating the use of the rabbit analogy .. I beseech your immediate forgiveness.. )

 

Deadlines can be inspiring and galvanising things, but recently, as we've been guiding all these tracks into their final form, it's felt like if we weren't careful, the last part of finishing this album was going to be a big stress-ball of "oh no, oh no, we have to finish it now, we have to get it out, *&(_*(*£%&*_* £££ ??? waaghhh!". And that really doesn't go with how I'd love this album to make you all feel. I would really love it to be a record that makes people feel good, and well, if it does, what's a bit of extra time spent on it in the long run?

 

And so, unlike other albums of ours, which, at this finishing stage, have felt rather like there's a Roman amphitheatre full of people waiting on us to make all those final, crucial decisions.. this album won't get tarnished by that kind of thing. Just as important as the long days in the studio are the weekends away, or the nights off where we listen to the entire Beatles back catalogue and eat good home cooked food. I don't think there is anything in life which can't ultimately be made better by the addition of fun. Fun is undervalued in the modern world! Fun and perspective, people. Cherish them!

 

 

 

I won't try and hype the forthcoming album up either, because I have no idea how you will all react to it. It may well be that everyone turns round and says "well that wasn't worth the wait, yeah, ugh, ugh, dumbo, this is shit, the first one was way better, DURRGH". Who can say?! I don't think that will happen. What I can say is that I'm in love with it and can't wait for you to hear it. 

 

So, really, to wrap up - because you've all got weekends to get on with - this note is obviously just aimed at any of you that have been wondering what on Earth has happened to our four album plan? That may only be 2% of you and the rest of you at this very moment are thinking, "oh yeah, I've been meaning to get off Guillemots mailing list for the last six years", in which case, well, may I be not the one to stop ye in your departure, sirrah or madame. But to any of you who are waiting on us, the plan is still very much alive, and thank you for waiting, thank you so much - this next one is for you.

 

We'll have more news before too long. Meanwhile, have fun on your own journeys, wherever they may be taking you ....