“Hopeful Sadness” was written in 2018 at a time of uncertainty for Jay Gee Harper". He was finishing up a college course in forestry where he had dabbled in a few short lived musical projects with friends, but nothing seemed to be sticking. The following summer he began constructing a new array of solo material, away in his bedroom in the small suburban town of Fleet. The songs touched on a variety of topics / themes - such as losing touch with reality, tension headaches and .. deep sea spider crabs. He wrote these songs not with the intention to put them out , but because it was the best way he could think to fill 3 months of time at home. The record is called “Hopeful sadness” - because that’s exactly the emotion he's trying to get across. The result of this incubation are 11 weirdo pop songs that are at times serene, fun and nostalgic , and at other points - dark and introspective. He channels the moods of Daniel Johnston, the Clean, Spacemen 3 and Duster.


When it came to demoing the songs, Joe had been using a tascam tape machine at home. However for the album he wanted something cleaner, and the ability to add as many layers to his songs as possible. Charlie owned a laptop with logic and an audio interface so he took on the role of producer and they began the recording process.
It was great to once again collaborate on a musical level - as in year 9 they first became friends through writing bad pop punk songs together.
Despite a few successful sessions they got only halfway through the recording process as Joe (Jay Gee) went off to university to study ecology in Brighton - so the project was put on hold.
However In May of this year they reunited and remembered how much they loved the songs. 7 days in July were promptly set aside that would be fully dedicated recording the whole thing again.
This time it was recorded down at his bedroom recording / ocarina playing / musical saw sawing / omnichord plinker friend ikes house in Brighton.The recording room itself was a great atmosphere - all Ikes housemates ended up contributing to the record; discovering that moving image student jay had the ability to whistle with the tone of a robin.

This was one of those records were every single detail has been scrutinised , and the songs built layer by layer - everyone with a unified vision , making their best attempt to most perfectly replicate the sound they could hear in their heads.