It felt right to start here.
Of all the songs I could have chosen to introduce The Kubrick Stare, I don't think there was ever really another option.
Vapour Trail was the first shoegaze song that left an impact on me. And in many ways, it's probably the reason this project exists at all.
An Afternoon in the Garage
When I was about fourteen, I was digging through my dad's old vinyl records in the garage.
My dad had always been into shoegaze, so I'd probably heard plenty of it growing up without really knowing what it was. But that afternoon I came across a stack of Ride records, and one in particular caught my attention.
Nowhere.
I knew absolutely nothing about the album, but those deep blue waves on the cover looked so inviting that I decided to give it a listen.
And something clicked.
I'd always been drawn to the slower, more atmospheric tracks on albums. The songs that seemed slightly detached from everything else, as though they existed in their own little world.
But Ride sounded like an entire band built around that feeling.
It wasn't loud in the way I'd been used to. There was an enormous amount going on, but everything seemed to blend together into something strangely beautiful.
And the album just kept getting better.
Then came the closing track.
Vapour Trail.
I remember being completely captivated by it, particularly the string arrangement at the end. It's such a simple musical phrase, but somehow it carries an extraordinary amount of emotion without ever becoming overly dramatic.
I think that was the moment I realised this kind of music existed as a world of its own.
And I wanted to be part of it.
Making It My Own
So, roughly a decade later, here I am releasing my own version.
I'm not trying to replace the original, and I'm certainly not claiming to have improved on it. That would be a rather ambitious thing to suggest about one of my favourite songs of all time.
But I didn't want to simply recreate it either.
My version is darker, thicker and considerably more layered. I've leaned much further into the wall of sound, allowing the guitars and synths to build around the melody until everything feels a little heavier.
The original has a wonderful sense of openness to it. Mine feels more enclosed, almost as though the same song is being viewed from somewhere slightly different.
Less wide-eyed, perhaps. More reflective.
I originally recorded it as an experiment, really. I wanted to see what would happen if I took a song I knew inside out and approached it with the sound I'd been developing for The Kubrick Stare.
It was a useful way of figuring out what worked, what didn't, and what I actually wanted this project to sound like.
And when I finished it, I realised I had something I wanted people to hear.
The 7-Inch Single
I've always had a particular affection for physical record formats.
Especially singles.
There's something I love about the idea of an A-side and a B-side. Two pieces of music presented together, often showing completely different sides of an artist.
And while most of my future releases will follow the 12-inch format, Vapour Trail felt like it belonged on a 7-inch.
It's not really the first major statement of The Kubrick Stare. That will come later.
This feels more like an introduction. A little doorway into something much bigger.
A cover of the song that inspired the project, accompanied by an original instrumental that offers a glimpse of where I'm taking it.
Two tracks. Two sides.
A fairly simple beginning.
If Only I Could Fly
And then there's the B-side.
If Only I Could Fly is an entirely separate piece of music. No shared recordings, no hidden reprises, and no attempt to turn the two tracks into one continuous composition.
It's built around synths and a repeating melody, with the arrangement gradually developing around them.
There are no vocals.
I've always enjoyed writing instrumentals, partly because they force me to approach things differently. Without lyrics or a vocal melody to carry the song, the instruments have to do all the work.
There's nowhere to hide a weak arrangement behind a catchy chorus.
And I quite like that challenge.
The title does have a loose connection to Vapour Trail, though.
I've always interpreted the original song as being about watching somebody you love fly away. Perhaps they're leaving you behind. Perhaps it's something more permanent.
Either way, there's a sense of distance and helplessness that I've always found quite moving.
If Only I Could Fly feels like the thought that comes afterwards.
Wishing you could follow them.
Wishing you could lift off too.
It's a more ambient piece, and perhaps a little more hopeful, but I don't think it offers any particular resolution.
Sometimes hope is just wanting something to be different.
Where It Begins
Looking back, I think releasing Vapour Trail first was inevitable.
The Kubrick Stare has taken years to develop, and there are plenty of influences that have shaped it along the way. But if I had to trace the whole thing back to one particular moment, it would probably be that afternoon in the garage.
A fourteen-year-old finding an old Ride record and discovering a kind of music he hadn't realised existed.
It's funny how something so ordinary can end up having such an enormous influence on your life.
I don't expect everyone who hears my version to have the same connection to it that I do.
In fact, I'd rather they didn't feel obliged to.
I've always believed that once you release a piece of music, you lose the right to dictate what it means to somebody else. People bring their own memories, experiences and emotions to whatever they're listening to.
Something that means one thing to me might mean something completely different to you.
And that's one of my favourite things about music.
So whether you've been listening to Ride for thirty years or you've never heard Vapour Trail before, I hope you find something in these recordings worth coming back to.
For me, they're a tribute to where all of this started.
And an introduction to where it's going.
SMS