Yes, I have a habit of over-complicating and thinking things through a little too much. But, and yes here I go again, I have a plan for FAWM. The plan with FAWM is to write an album of 14 songs in one month. So I thought I would play around with this. I have the concept of a perfect album in my head, not the tunes or the songs, but what the perfect album should contain. This has been created and inspired by my favourite bands, predominantly through the 80s but also before and after then with nods to Bowie and later bands who have, in their own way, sung along with my mythical vision.

You’ll need to bear with me with this for the next month or so as I begin to explain exactly what I am on about. The thing is I am going to create a concept album that is based on what I believe the perfect album should be. This will be my primary inspiration for each song I write for FAWM. I may, or may not, have another concept to inspire the actual lyrics and sound, that is tomorrow’s task.

I know that this could all fall horribly apart but I am also very excited about the whole concept. It is interesting because I had also penned in this year to be the year of genre breaking (that’s another post). And yet here I am actually using genre as my framework. Okay, the whole thinking behind FAWM uses the genre of the album, so I am already part of the machine.

So what exactly am I on about. Here’s what I mean, well, just a short selection. For me the perfect album has the following:

• ‘the perfect opening track’ – this is a builder, it introduces the general sound of the rest of the songs, and draws you in to what follows, it never quite peaks… as we say, always leave them wanting more.
• ‘the single’ – the song that everyone knows by the band, the one that gets played everywhere, all the time
• ‘the ballad’ – the slow(?) love song, that will be played as ‘the first song’ at ‘fans’ weddings’
• ‘the anthemic closing track’  - for me track 10 should be the song that pushes the artist, both musically and lyrically

These are only my initial thoughts and there are a whole lot more on my mind map. However, if there are any ‘songs’ you think should be included on the perfect album let me know in the comments, you never know you could be my muse. I have 14* tracks to write over the month, so thoughts are always appreciated.

*14 tracks, but you said track 10 was the closing track. Yes, the other 4 are the b-sides or tracks that don’t quite make the album. I’ve thought of everything… almost.