Rise Up Forgotten, Return Destroyed

Simon:

I thought long and hard about how best to illustrate the divided nature of Dora and decided what was needed was something both dark and epic to give her the final push towards committing the desperate and terrible act she believed would be the only course of action left open to her for lasting peace of mind.

To that end, I asked Robert to come up with a fitting narrative to illustrate her finally being swept over the edge of reason and into a kind of lucid insanity. It couldn’t be a wholehearted transformation unless it comes from the heart and so Robert made it into a final farewell between Dora and Dominic. He put the feeling of love between a father and daughter at centre stage to give Dora the motivation to do the deed. When she wakes, there will be no returning to the dream world.

I’m all the more impressed with what Robert has done as the accapella section in the middle of the song was recorded by me long before the rest of the track was put together. It’s an immense bit of writing on Robert’s part and the fact that he crafted his lyrics to fit seamlessly around mine shows exactly what a master of the art-form the talented wanker is.

All told this track is the most band like in its execution with no less that four outside musicians contributing their time and considerable talents to the song.

The first is once again that man Matt Stevens. His sonic terrorism is all over this track but my favourite bit of his is the flailing electronic dive bombs after the second chorus. Sterling stuff.

The second is that of Hywel Bennett, guitarist in the Dec Burke Band, whom I got to know well during our time sharing stages together in our respective bands. He is an immense player and I knew I would need one considering the solo is over what is possibly one of the most challenging bits of music on the record. He spent weeks honing his performance and when he finally presented the results, I was floored by what he had created. It is a monster bit of guitar work and I am so happy he threw his lot in with this project.

DeeExpus guitarist Andy Ditchfield handles the final solo and it is the exact polar apposite to Hwyel’s uber contemporary style. With Mr Ditchfield you get a snarling yet melodic beast of a performance that positively sings whilst doing its best to spit blood and teeth in all directions.

The last guest is that of drummer Henry Rogers. I’ll make no bones about this right now. Alongside Tinyfish drummer Leon Camfield, Henry is my favourite sticksman on the scene right now. He plays with such grace and style, yet can pound it out with the best of them should the need arise. I honestly believe there is nothing this man can’t do behind a drum kit and was the only person I felt technically capable of playing such an involved and demanding track.

It nearly didn’t happen however. I’d given Hen the track some time before the session was due to take place at Andy Ditchfield’s studio up in County Durham. My label boss David Elliot had offered to drive me up in order to supervise the recording and once we arrived, it quickly became obvious that the hastily arranged click tracks I’d put together were quite simply wrong. God bless Henry because once we realised, he simply shrugged his shoulders and say ‘Fuck it Si, let’s give it a go anyway’.

What he created that day is what you can hear on the album. Simply put, he absolutely nailed it.

Cheers mate.

Robert:

The part of this that I found most surprising was the "Dora as a child" section. It shows that she has observed this first murder in the dreamworld at the same time as grown-up Dora, and this is why grown-up Dora had not remembered her episodes of abuse: her younger self saw all that had transpired and pushed it into the Memory House. A paradox. This sort of thing is why it's usually best not to think about what you're writing until after you've written it.

Also, that first verse is a cracker, IMHO. And my HO is pretty damn top-notch :D