Feeling Great EP - Hats Off Gentlemen It's Adequate

This EP is unrelated to our forthcoming album, The Confidence Trick.

If you are looking for the ultimate bleak-gasm, why not try 'Feeling Great', the title track of this EP? Written during lockdown, it describes my experiences with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome, and the feeling of being expected to pretend to be OK. Sometimes it's fine not to be ok. This is a simple song, so don't be too disappointed by the lack of blistering guitars, complex keyboards etc. It is probably the most miserable song I've written, and one of the few in a major key. On the other hand it does end with a gentle bass solo. Just in case it isn't completely obvious, the title is ironic.

It is followed by 'Struggling', a bluesy instrumental, with the solo played on my Strat. Introspective and melancholy, but to me it feels like it expresses what I was feeling.

It is followed by 'Struggling', a melancholic bluesy instrumental, featuring Malcolm on his Fender Stratocaster. 

The last new track is Callisto Cuddle Sponge, named after Philip K Dick's hideous alien parasite. This track features Mark Gatland on the Chapman Stick, an instrument like a bass guitar but with far too many strings, as if it had been photographed in panorama mode while accidentally moving and creating a visual glitch. 

We've also included a bonus track, 'Skyline'. Malcolm wrote this previously unreleased electronic instrumental in 2011. A supporter heard it on a youtube video, and asked for it to be released. It isn't up to the audio quality we would hope for if writing it now, but we don't have the original project files to go back to. This is dedicated to Bob. 

Released December 2, 2020 

Written by Malcolm Galloway (tracks 1-4) and Mark Gatland (track 1-3) 
Performed by Malcolm Galloway (guitar - tracks 1 and 2; keyboards tracks 1-4; vocals - track 1) and Mark Gatland (guitar - track 3; keyboards track 2; bass - track 1-3; Chapman Stick - track 3) 
Produced by Malcolm Galloway (tracks 1-4) and co-produced by Mark Gatland (tracks 1-3) 

Cover art image with kind permission of Mrs White Photoart

https://open.spotify.com/album/43qga2JK7FCHgUPZZBb2UX?si=20xr1k5kSQGu2zfqNakCGg

 https://hatsoffgentlemen.bandcamp.com/album/feeling-great

reviews

"The second track, Struggling, is instrumental, Pink Floyd in style, and probably better than anything on Endless River... The more I listen the more I love it." The Progressive Aspect

"A beautiful, beautiful song" - The Walrus and Carpenter Show