Marker Starling presents - Silk Rock

Silk Rock is a new standalone track, which, with ninth album HIGH JANUARY, takes Toronto’s Chris A. Cummings deeper into the Markerverse. Rather than record a B-side, the novel decision to record two separate versions was made. The Marker Starling version was recorded first, with visiting Canadian Cummings (aka Marker Starling, also the song’s composer) on a day trip to Wilton Way studio in London with his regular UK backing band: Euan Rodger (drums), Joe Carvell (bass) and Andy Whitehead (guitar). Joined for this occasion by fellow Canadian Ian Daniel Kehoe (guest vocals) and a 3-piece choir (Victoria Rose Hamblett, Marie Merlet and Aurora Barrett), the group recorded the song in one day, including overdubs. A long-gestating idea which had its origins in the late nineties, the Silk Rock concept had been auditioned and scrapped many times over in Cummings’ home demo lab in Toronto. The main riff had been the basis of many earlier versions. The breakthrough happened with the addition of the chorus - the “can I be myself” section - and the instrumental bridge which uses different chords than the main body of the song. The coda section (“out of this nightmare and into your own dreams”) was also a later addition.

The second version of the song, by London’s Haha Sounds Collective and featuring Stereolab’s Laetitia Sadier on lead vocals, was recorded subsequently over several sessions, as it was a more elaborate affair involving 12 musicians. Also recorded at Wilton Way by Syd Kemp, the second version takes the initial concept and stretches it out, giving it breathing space and a huge mood. It pares the idea down to its essence, then builds it up vertically, stacking instruments and colours, creating an altogether different experience.