Where it all began
Sleeping Moon is a song I wrote for a very special friend many moons ago. We had met through work, where she quickly became not only an amazing addition to the team but a wonderful friend.
At the time, she had talked about wanting to travel with her partner, and I remember feeling a little sadness at the thought that such a special friendship might change as life took us in different directions. The song became my way of acknowledging just how much that friendship meant to me.
The original demo was recorded with my friend Chris Shrubsole in his home studio. Chris played the electric guitar, weaving a melodic thread throughout the song, and introduced the strings that became such an important part of its identity.
Bringing the song back to life
When I returned to Sleeping Moon, I wanted to preserve the feeling of that original recording while allowing the song to reveal even more of itself. All those years ago, I’d taken it as far as I could with the experience and musical understanding I had at the time. Since then, I’ve grown as a songwriter and producer, and I could hear possibilities that I hadn’t been able to explore before. I kept the original strings but allowed the arrangement to grow around them, giving the melody more room to breathe and the song the space to become what it had always wanted to be.
I played and produced the new arrangement, with my good friend Jolene Khor joining me to perform the piano part. Steve Hansen recorded the song, taking great care to preserve the musical expression and the spirit of the original recording.
What Sleeping Moon means to me
For me, Sleeping Moon is ultimately about letting people know that you care about them. Even when you don’t see one another, and life takes you to different places, someone can still be thinking of you, wherever you are.
If you’d like to explore the words behind the music, you can read the Sleeping Moon lyrics here