NOSTALGIA Friday song no 17 27th April write-up

Since we started the Friday Song project, where we are writing, arranging, recording, producing and releasing on our FB wall a brand new Portraits song each and every Friday throughout 2012, all based on ideas sent in by all you good people out there, we've found the whole experience to be a really interesting learning curve.

This week sees the release of song 17, Nostalgia, meaning we are more or less a third of the way through the challenge. We've really enjoyed producing each and every song, and we're really pleased with the results each time, but on 4 or 5 occasions we've really felt that we had something very special to unleash on the public. This week is one of those weeks. Written on Wednesday in response to an email we received from Jane Howell from Sunderland (thanks so much Jane), the song portrays a fantasy trip back by Jane to visit her teenage self twenty years ago. In it she tells her younger alter ego what has happened in her life over the last two decades, and asks if she (now) is where she (back then) would hope to be. She also recognises that her paranoid younger self couldn't cope with criticism of any kind, but that her older and wiser version yearns to help her find her way and lose the hang-ups that prevented her getting further in life. Really interesting idea, Jane - hope you feel we've done it justice in some way.

The recording features our fantastic string men Shemi (cello) and Vincent (violin), guitar by Jeremy and vocals by Lorraine and Jeremy.

We hope you enjoy the song, and we look forward to receiving your input towards the next songs in the series. The songs are inspired by ideas, pictures, suggestions sent to us by you. They can be originals for which you send us stories, bits of poetry -- anything from your own lives, or covers you would like to hear us do in Portraits-style. We will tag you in the videos and publicity if you've been the inspiration for the current week's song!

All the songs in the series can be downloaded right now from our main site http://www.theportraitsmusic.com/ - click on Friday Song towards the top of the page. The songs can be downloaded for free, or you have the option of choosing a price -- and all proceeds from sales of the Friday Songs will go to The Burma Campaign (http://www.burmacampaign.org.uk/) who campaign for human rights and democracy in Burma, a cause close to our hearts.

JEREMY MILLINGTON
THE PORTRAITS http://www.theportraitsmusic.com/