If anyone delved into (and enjoyed) either the @grindrod.bsky.social Pet Shop Boys @thequietus.com article or any of the ‘52 albums to shape a soul’ blogs by @lippykidmusic.bsky.social, as a result of one of my #21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep posts - this is the song I was alluding to.

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (21): #ShortAlbums. The album is less than 30 minutes in length and so might fit onto a 10” disc. All song / little frill, as was often the case a few decades ago… though I have put in a few frilly riffs :-) Here’s a 10” LP #JacquesBrel en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Olympia...

There’s a strong connection to the opening song on ‘Sketches of Sheep Show They Aren’t All The Same’ in this post from @glasgow.ac.uk (yes, Glasgow Subway but no - given yesterday’s #21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep entry - it’s not the #StEnoch #Fosterito wondering.) #synthsky #GreekThomson (!) #LoFi

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (20): #RobertRental & #ThomasLeer had #AlbertBridge on their album sleeve; I have another London one adorning the cover of ‘Sketches…’ - #RoyalVictoriaDockFootbridge. For more Thames bridge tales this was interesting: www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b...

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (19): #Fosterito Awnings at the entrance to #Bilbao metro stations (named after Norman Foster.) I wonder if they influenced the #StEnoch ones on the @glasgowsubway.bsky.social? en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fosterito

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (18): The #ShippingForecast from @metoffice.gov.uk A navigational aid and lifesaver at sea; also
poetic on the radio (hence the #BBC link.) www.bbc.co.uk/weather/coas...

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (16): Roland #CR78. I don’t own a real one of these, but the VST version sounds are very pleasing to my ears (and not far removed from a home-keyboard sound.) It’s on a few songs. articles.roland.com/cr-78-the-wh...

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (15): #BuresDragon. In 2027 I should be releasing an album about chalk hill figures… the Bures Dragon isn’t one of them, but it gets a nod in the same song as the #HouseForEssex on ‘Sketches…’ The track also features a VST #CR78 #Geolyph esscrp.org.uk/things-to-do...

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (14): #HouseForEssex. On the cover of the ‘100 21st Century Buildings’ @c20society.bsky.social book. A #GraysonPerry / @charlesjholland.bsky.social collab., referenced in a song that wasn’t originally going to be on the album. charleshollandarchitects.co.uk/projects/a-h...

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (13): ‘Peach’ by #Deerful. Discovered via an @electronicsound.bsky.social review in 2017. Emma Winston’s LP is one with fine songwriting and (I think) an #OP-1 at its core. Quite an influence. Available via @wiaiwya.bsky.social wiaiwya.bandcamp.com/album/peach

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (12): #UnoSynth. I have a 2nd-hand one of these. It’s on a couple of songs, played - not exactly adeptly - live by my hands on its “keyboard” (i.e. not using a controller / MIDI), so really adds to the album’s “immediacy”… www.ikmultimedia.com/products/uno...

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (11): #KinderTrespass. The “roaming rights” mentioned in the song covered in posts 9 & 10 are a metaphor drawn from this. Here’s a link to some info on the actual trespass from @peakdistrict.bsky.social … www.peakdistrict.gov.uk/learning-abo...

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (10): The story behind that song (the Kinder Trespass & Cabaret Voltaire get nods too) brought to mind the “52 albums to shape a soul” blog by @lippykidmusic.bsky.social also. Here’s a link to my favourite of those. #PhilipGlass. lippykidmusic.substack.com/p/52-albums-...

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (9): One song on the album recalls a 6th form conversation about #PetShopBoys, which the friend who started it reminded me of last year. I reflected on that further when reading this excellent @thequietus.com piece by @grindrod.bsky.social thequietus.com/opinion-and-...

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (8): In late 2023 @danthompson33.bsky.social - he can be heard in the linked episode of ‘Mark Steel’s In Town’ - suggested I make an album. This will be its follow up. Randomly, it’s accidentally a similar length to Françoise Hardy’s debut LP. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (7): #BarbaraHepworth. The song containing the line “sketches of sheep” is also inspired by confusing a Hepworth sculpture with one of Moore’s. Precisely, it’s ‘Ascending Form (Gloria)’ at @thebotanics.bsky.social in #Edinburgh. stories.rbge.org.uk/archives/7014

Not an official #21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep post, but the building adorning that @c20society.bsky.social book cover gets referenced in one of the album songs. #GraysonPerry #AHouseForEssex

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (6): #HenryMoore The Henry Moore Foundation will be 50 next year; its Leeds arm - @hmileeds.bsky.social - turned 33 this. The album title is inspired by Moore’s book of sheep sketches and lifted from the lyric of a song featuring the #BassStationII too… henry-moore.org

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (5): Novation #BassStationII. Occasionally, I think about making an EP or album only with this (I’d be interested to know if anyone has actually done that.) The main riffs on three songs feature the synth, including the opening pair. novationmusic.com/products/bas...

#21IntrosToSketchesOfSheep (4): #GreekThomson. The lyric of the opening song is set outside a sweeping Alexander Thomson creation. The society promoting awareness of him and his work used to be based in it, apparently. Online, they’re here: www.alexanderthomsonsociety.org.uk