Have You Heard by Paul Ibberson

Paul set about writing again.

It was now in a new direction. Serious (and sometimes quite avant-garde) classical composition followed - there was a String quartet and a quintet, an orchestral work as well as various piano and vocal pieces - some of all this was quite well received (even if it was by one man and his dog), but didn't pay the rent.

It was at this point that Paul managed to gain the use of a studio and some technology. Once in there, a new field of writing opened up; film music.

The best paid of these was a 10 second ident. sting for MTV, providing the background music to the animated logo. After that came the music for 2 animation shorts for channel 4, and the soundtrack to a live-action film by a Lebanese director. There is a CD of extended electronic compositions intended for use as possible soundtrack material available for licensing upon request.

As well as this, there were collaborations with choreographers and artists. But it was songwriting that Paul wanted to get back to. He advertised his services in the music press, and found himself providing (and recording) music to lyrics by others, as well as arranging melodies (sometimes hummed down the phone) and collaborating with other songwriters.

Spurred on by this, Paul wrote more than 50 songs with the idea of recording (some of) them himself. This he did, and the resulting CD is here. This first album is pretty orchestral in its arrangement and, having finished it, Paul decided that he wanted to use only piano, guitar, bass and drums to go with the vocal on his next one.

He wanted a rougher, more real sound. A rock band format led by piano. This made sense because Paul has always written songs at the piano, and he wanted to keep as close as possible to the basis of the songs. The resulting record - Have you Heard - is here.

At the time of writing, the latest EP (provisionally entitled "the london EP") is in production......

- Robert Michaels 2003

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