Rory McVicar records second album

By Jacqui Burgoyne
BBC Norfolk

Rory McVicar's second album takes it's title from his insomniac lifestyle

Rory McVicar has finished recording his second album, Another Sleepless Night with Rory McVicar.

The album contains 10 songs, including I Will Take the Blame, Darlin' Wait and three instrumentals.

"It's the best thing I've done so far. I'm fairly secure in the knowledge that it is good and it will be released," said Rory.

The album draws heavily from Rory's life experiences and features tracks that reveal his song-writing process.

The title of the album is a nod to the fact that Rory writes a lot of his material at night and while the album has been recorded, it has yet to be mastered.

"It is finished and I'm very happy with it and have been playing songs off it for a while," said Rory.

"The only problem is the music industry at the moment. It's very hard to release a record these days, particularly if you're picky like me and do it your own way.

"A lot of independent labels don't have the money to do it now.

"Mastering costs loads, but you have to do it to make your record sound louder and crisper."

Promotion

Even after an album is completed technically, it still takes time to hit the shelves of record stores.

"We need to do three months promoting and can't release around Christmas because it could get sucked in. But I'm sure it will see the light of day," said Rory.

People's changing habits when buying music is also a new issue to take into consideration.

"Being the person who made it you're excited and like 'Wow, that's amazing', but people are more interested in downloads," said Rory.

"I think musicians are still getting their heads round that," he added.

Rory feels his second album has more of a 1960s' spirit.

"The first album was all kind of rehearsing, trying to do a more conventional pop record whereas this one is more like a 1960s' pop record - looser, more experimentation," he said.

Organic

His style of writing is very organic and isn't something he plans in advance.

Rory describes his new album as, "The best I've done so far"

"Usually it stems out of boredom. For me it's second nature to pick up a guitar when I'm in my house as I don't have a TV," he said.

"There's a bunch of things going on in your head during the day - a lot of things you weren't aware you were processing.

"So you're just sat there with a guitar and the two things go together.

"I think that's why music is always important to people - it exposes what they can't express."

Varied music

Because he doesn't consciously sit down to write, he finds the music he composes varies in character.

"My songs start kind of aimlessly, which is perhaps why I don't have what I'd call a uniform sound," he said.

"I often think I'd be more commercially viable if I found a band for this sound and a band for another sound," he added.

Being flexible in style means there is no set duration for writing a song.

"There are songs that take a long time... and some that reel out," said Rory.

"Goodbye to an Old Friend was a quick song. I can remember very clearly writing that.

"The longer ones tend to be the 'poppier' ones. At Your Convenience was a bit of a struggle."

Rory McVicar's second album release will be preceded by a vinyl and download single only called Oh The Shame. The release date is yet to be confirmed.