The Awakening

Album: The Awakening (2011)
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Songfacts®:

  • Three years in the making, English singer-songwriter James Morrison's third album, The Awakening, sees him linking up with producer Bernard Butler, the former guitarist in Suede who collaborated with Duffy on her big-selling Rockferry record. Morrison explained how Butler helmed a clear soulful sound. "Bernard was really good at keeping the space in the songs and not letting them get too cluttered with production. You can hear everything clearly. Yet he made it sound like a proper record without it being too polished. It was exactly what it needed.

    It was quite a full production, but at its core there were only four of us in the room – drums, bass, Bernard on guitar and me singing. We did seven or eight live takes of each song, picked the best and worked around that. We just made sure the vibe was good, and then whatever you put on top is going to sound great."
  • The Awakening was influenced by Morrison's own steps into parenthood and its title track finds Morrison drawing on his experience of being a father to his daughter, Elsie. Said the proud dad: "It's like I've just woken up to myself and to what I have to do. I used to say 'oh, I don't want kids' – and then when it happened it was the best thing ever. So I wanted to catch that."

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