Influences:   The usual ones for a pianist: Elton, Tom Waits, Ben Folds, Ron Mael and any new music I can get my ears on.

I'm a writer and musician from Glasgow, Scotland. Been songwriting on and off since the 80s, although recently most of my material has been in the service of my now defunkt band, murnie (murnie.bandcamp.com). I'm fond of unusual subjects for lyrics, but that doesn't mean I don't take it seriously.

2019 is my second FAWM. Last year I wrote 14 solid songs. Some were pretty good, some perhaps just good exercise. My demos last year were all rough recordings of piano and vocal, and the plan was to select the good ones, record them properly and make that album... but that never got done.

So, the plan for this year... is pretty much the same. After FAWM is over (and the current novel is done) maybe I'll dedicate a bunch of weeks just to recording my music. We'll see. But for now I'm loving getting to spend a month creating, so thanks for giving me that opportunity FAWMers.

Pronouns: He/Him

#1		Memo pop	12 6 weeks
#2		Shoelaces pop	15 6 weeks
#3		Building The Future	11 6 weeks
#4		Convict Stage 1960s western movie theme randomwikipedia	10 6 weeks
#5		Six Strong Women guy-with-piano	19 6 weeks
#6		Justified Fear Of The Beer beer shanty guy-with-piano	23 5 weeks
#7		Hold The Lie popish	11 4 weeks
#8		Till You See The Stars guy-with-piano	9 4 weeks
#9		Seaford guy-with-piano	15 4 weeks
#10		Team Photo guy-with-piano scottish pop-punk ethic	9 4 weeks
#11		Satan, My F*** Buddy full band sem-latin not really demonic	9 4 weeks
#12		Chopsicks guy-with-piano	9 4 weeks
#13		Someone To Stan guy-with-wurlitzer ss022319j superskirmish feast	12 4 weeks
#14		Cat's In The Concrete guy-with-piano philosophical	10 3 weeks
#15		Knock Three Times supernatural pop	12 3 weeks

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• 

  @leepat  2 days

  hey, meant to thank you about your comment on Like a God. The melody was a bitch to sing, but I'm quite happy with it. It all came about from the idea of the tritone as the devil's interval 😀

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  @mattoxic 6 days

  Hi thanks for taking the time to listen and comment on Book by you - much appreciated

• 

  @sph  6 days

  Thank you for your comment on the reverse corpse. These kind of games are fun. The moment when the result is presented feels like a mixture of receiving a birthday present or winning a lottery.

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  @rainchaser  1 week

  Thank you for your kind words on, "I Will Eat Anything"! I really appreciate them!! Yeah, simplifying the chords makes it easy to write melodies. I also have found that writing quickly is my most strongest strength in writing songs.

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  @saulius 1 week

  Thanks for the kind comment on Golden Hour. Unfortunately, I've not had the opportunity to visit Scotland, but I've experienced winter storms in Ireland, Iceland and Greenland, so I can imagine.

• 

  @ceilidh  1 week

  Thank you for your comment on Hay-on-Wye! Will have to keep Wigtown in mind if we ever get back across the pond!

• 

  @tamsnumber4  1 week

  Thanks for commenting on my collab song "Hope Beyond Hope", I appreciate the listen!!

• 

  @yarimurray  1 week

  Thanks for listening to Everyday Hero and your kind remarks. I especially appreciate your feedback on my piano playing, as I have been trying to work on improving in this area. Still lots of work to do but I guess it's getting there.

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  @mikegtz  2 weeks

  Thanks for coming to visit my song! Listening to Team Photo now.

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  @jwhanberry  2 weeks

  

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  @owl  2 weeks

  now I'm trying to think if I've done any songs that are AGGRESSIVELY AMERICAN... maybe next FAWM.

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  @audrey  2 weeks

  Thank you for your wonderful comments on my songs. I've been waiting to see if someone would 'get' the five final thumps in my piece Discord in the Boardroom, and you are the only one who did. Thanks. Percussion is rather limited in the version of Sibelius I have, and that sound was the closest I could find to the sound of a chairperson's gavel rapping the table as if to say, "Enough! Meeting adjourned!" Lol. Obviously, I need to find a better sound to convey that, but I've enjoyed reading people's guesses. Thanks again for the listens and kind comments.

• 

  @owl  2 weeks

  Ha, I did kind of wonder if you were playing it up 😉

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  @chrishope 2 weeks

  thanks for commenting .. really nice to recieve,

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  @mkd  2 weeks

  Space dolphins!!!! 😂 (thanks for commenting!)

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  @cherok40  2 weeks

  Thank you a lot for listening and your very nice comments. Very much appreciated!

• 

  @wobbiewobbit  2 weeks

  thanks for your comments on the futility of books, yeah i am enjoying the controversy of that one 😉 - really i do enjoy reading 😀

• 

  @gflatminor  2 weeks

  Thanks for listening to "Bird in my Window" and leaving the kind feedback.

• 

  @cherok40  2 weeks

  Thank you a lot for listening and your kind - and very much appreciated - comments on February Moon.

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  @musicsongwriter 2 weeks

  Thank you Neil for your kind comment on my music. Yes, it's sad and your vision is very connected with what I had in mind. Thank you for your listening and sharing your thoughts. I appreciate your support.
  Nadia

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  @donna  2 weeks

  Thank you for your very nice comment on 'Once'.

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  @infilktion 2 weeks

  Thank you for your comment on "My Internet Boyfriend". It was fun capturing that moment in time.

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  @ceilidh  2 weeks

  Thank you for your comment on Winter Light Festival! We're fortunate to have relatively inexpensive hydroelectric and windpower which helps power the light shows, but I must admit that the fire shows are my personal favorites since you get to enjoy heat as well as light (not to mention the wonderful roar of the propane burners)!

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  @tamsnumber4  3 weeks

  Thanks for listening and commenting on my collab "Since We First Touched" I appreciate it!

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  @jwhanberry  3 weeks

  

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  @guatecoop  3 weeks

  Hey there, thank you for the comments! I think we probably like a lot of the same music, as you mentioned Gang of Four and Fugazi. If I can achieve anything close to the qualities of either, I would be thrilled.
  My best musical moment for me happened in DC, when my band played there and I was loading in my drums....Guy, Brendan, and Ian from Fugazi showed up and I found out because they were carrying my drums up to the club! Needless to say, I was nervous playing for the first few songs.....

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  @yarimurray  3 weeks

  Thanks for listening and your comments for Road To Somewhere. I enjoy your piano playing very much, as I am merely a hack when it comes to the keys. Looking forward to hearing more soon.

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  @momentegalerie 3 weeks

  Thank you for your comment on my uke song "goodbye". Yeah, I try to use my uke more, because in fact it is a smaller instrument and it is nice to chill on the sofa with it in the lap and just jamming 😀. I have written 3 more uke songs actually this year, if you're interested: "Hier oben", "Nimm's leicht" and "Socken"

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  @tosm 3 weeks

  Thank you for taking time to leave such a detailed comment on my music! Sub note...if you develop Building The Future, I can imagine it going brilliantly with female vocals, either soft soprano and breathy, or full-on Marlene Dietrich...tons of reverb and maybe even slowed right down?

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  @crisp1  3 weeks

  Thanks for all your really nice comments this FAWM! Much appreciated! One song to go, mate, and you'll win!

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  @carbonribs1 3 weeks

  Thanks for your comment on Who’s My Neighbor? 😀

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  @ohwell123 3 weeks

  I greatly appreciate your comment on my song Balsamic Moon. I will definitely look into your suggestions to develop it!

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  @chrisshepard 3 weeks

  Thanks for the comment! Check out some of Wesley Willis' music and it will make more sense. Looking forward to getting home so I can listen to "Satan, My Fuckbuddy".

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  @ayehahmur  3 weeks

  And that's me hit 300 comments/100 zongs. If I can just get a couple more songs up in the next day or so, I'll be done for FAWM, I reckon.

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  @hannibalhamster 3 weeks

  Thanks for all of your kind comments! I’m glad you’ve been enjoying them - I’ve been having a lot of fun coming up with them!
  
  It’s not a kazoo on The Ballad of... but instead a keyboard saxophone setting. I played it live on Saturday for the first time, though, and used a kazoo in a harmonica holder, which worked pretty well!

• 

  @moonraccoon  3 weeks

  Thank you for your interesting comment on Once Upon a Time When Wars Ended. I have a new perspective on it. I will have to give a closer listen to XTC. I've found a lot of joy in frustrating the listener a bit (might even be why a few people have asked if they're an influence).

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  @gemhughs 4 weeks

  Thanks for you comments on “Looking for Trouble“!

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  @majordanby  4 weeks

  Seaford is just odd, no complaint here.

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  @zoom  4 weeks

  Thanx for your lovely comments and observations <3

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  @oaksnprairie  4 weeks

  Thank you for listening to my rant. Scottish roads are much more inviting.

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  @leomozi  4 weeks

  Wow, I'm honored that you put "Another Home" on the "recommended listening" discussion! Especially since your production is top-notch. Also, "tone poem" is exactly what I was going for, but I couldn't think of the term. You've made my day, @ayehahmur.

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  @cynthiawolff  4 weeks

  Thanks so very much for your visit and your encouraging comments..
  I am very self conscious about my voice on its own...especially when I’m trying to play guitar as well and your sweet comments will just bolster me up enough to get a song out today..
  Thank you.

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  @misterd 4 weeks

  Thanks so much Neil for listening and the lovely comments on my acoustic song ' On my day off ' . i really appreciate it . Cheers mate !

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  @engebretsen  4 weeks

  Thx for comments on "New Mexico" Much appreciated!

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  @elliottlawrence 4 weeks

  The last week is where all the magic happens! And of course I have to be oncall at work during it, but FAWM isn't without its fair share of obstacles I guess? 😜

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  @elliottlawrence 4 weeks

  Ha, that's quite the coincidence that our songs have similar lyrical ideas. I guess great minds think alike! Really enjoying your stuff this year too, and good luck on these last 5 songs!

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  @engebretsen  4 weeks

  thx a lot for comments on "New Mexico" Much appreciated.

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  @mkd  4 weeks

  Thanks for your comment on I Got To! I liked that particular sequence too. It wasn’t until I was putting it up on here that I realised it also fulfilled the chromatic challenge!

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  @misterd 4 weeks

  Thanks for listening and kind comments on my blues piano song ! Cheers

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  @gemhughs 5 weeks

  Thanks for your comments on When I'm with You.

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  @misterd 5 weeks

  Thanks so much for listening and the kind words on my funk song !

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  @mkd  5 weeks

  Thanks for both responding to my comment on your song (I think it must be a British thing, we’re rare for doing it I’ve discovered) and for your comment on Dear June! I’m a real pencil and paper person when trying to be creative - can’t think well when going straight to computer - so it felt magic to capture that in the song itself. Those particular lyrics are written in bigger, scruffier, non-joined-up writing, as I was keen to make sure I was producing a decent sound, and I was feeling the pressure time-wise of writing on the fly like that!

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  @owl  5 weeks

  I sew myself--it's nice to think of people remembering these little details after you're gone.

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  @ballyhoot 5 weeks

  Hi, thanks for your comments on my song, It is Wot it Is. For what it's worth, I finally added my vocals:
  
  https://fawm.org/songs/93279/

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  @aflinner  5 weeks

  Thanks for listening to “Back 2 tha Future.” Glad you enjoyed it, appreciate the comments. 😁

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  @alg123  5 weeks

  Thanks for taking time to listen to my song and for the feedback!

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  @owl  5 weeks

  forgot to reply to your soundboard comment earlier--things are going well with the band! I switched from ukulele to guitar a couple of months ago and we also got a new guitarist as our old one quit. So we're in a period of slight growing pains as he's learning all our songs and I'm re-learning them all on a new instrument. But new and different is exciting. 😀 How is everything going with you?

• 

  @misterd 5 weeks

  Thanks a lot for listening to
  my song ‘Slip between the cracks ‘ . Cheers

• 

  @erucaesounds  5 weeks

  Thanks for the kind words on Sodium Light, glad you like it.

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  @lanasolyluna 5 weeks

  Thanks so much Neil. Hope you’re having a good FAWM so far. Will be back to listen soon.

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  @crisp1  6 weeks

  Thanks for your comment on Singer in This Bar. Paul did a great job on it.

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  @theresaj  6 weeks

  You made me laugh with the awkward high five for us pathetic piano soloers! Thanks for the comment!

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  @porrectus  6 weeks

  Thanks for your comment on Lines and dots, I hadn't thought of that.

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  @kahlo2013  6 weeks

  I loved it!

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  @owl  6 weeks

  Hello again Neil! Thank you so much for the lovely comments on "Chinese New Year"! I realized when I woke up to the flurry of comments about how abruptly the song ended that I accidentally cut off the outro (with time signature change!) when exporting. I have fixed it, along with the bass thing that was bothering me that nobody else noticed 😀 Just thought I'd let you know. I will be back to check out what you've been up to later on!

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  @moonraccoon  6 weeks

  Thank you so much for your compliment for Hope Beyond Hope.

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  @rickcannon 6 weeks

  Thank you for the lovely comment!

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  @headfirstonly  6 weeks

  Hi Neil - good to see you around again!

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  @zecoop  6 weeks

  Watchlisting... Thanks phone for 'correcting' me

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  @zecoop  6 weeks

  I'm waiting you just because of your comment about Elvis Costello and Joe Jackson on my brother's song. Two of my all time favorites! I'll be checking your music out later today. 😀

• 

  @kahlo2013  6 weeks

  Tag - you’re it! Time for you in Morph 2. Here is my song to morph:
  
  https://fawm.org/songs/91076/
  
  Have fun!

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  @srcoops 6 weeks

  Thanks for giving a listen to I Remember

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  @guatecoop  6 weeks

  Thanks! You named 2 of my faves, but especially Joe Jackson! Cheers!

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  @elliottlawrence 7 weeks

  Thanks for the nice comment. Good luck with FAWM this year!

• 

  @tseaver  7 weeks

  Thanks for the listen / comment on my song, "Nothin'," and a happy FAWM to you this year!

• 

  @nuj4x 8 weeks