All you could hear was the sound of the trees rustling in the night, only broken by the faint echo of a whirling Hammond screaming in the distance. It's an inspirational place, the mountains of North Wales, and it's where the organic tones of this album were formed.
The master of ceremonies of this rolling circus was producer, Calum MacColl. Steeped in melody and musical heritage, he was tasked with guiding these four young Olympians through uncharted waters and recording their first album.
And at the helm, Phill Brown, who has captured the sounds of many a legendary artist in previous years (Jimi Hendrix, The Rolling Stones, Small Faces), was now guiding the faders for this new outfit.
It rains a lot in North Wales but then again, everything in nature needs water to grow, this band is no exception. In less than a week the musical ideas that were merely seeds took on a whole new life of their own. They grew.
It rained outside, the wind blew hard but in the chapel-like studio the sounds of the underground were clearly flowering. Tracks such as "Open Room" shone through, like when the sun breaks through the clouds as blades of light from the sky, you can nearly hear the clouds breaking in the song itself.
And then in the night, the haunting tones of "Take This Ride" would echo off the cold walls that seemed to age the sound before hitting the room mics. The stuffed crows that happened to be in the room at the time just darkened the mood even more and certainly added a sense of performance.
Every journey starts with a simple step and these guys all seem to shy away from the easy route in life. You can't cheat experience, you can't buy emotions yet you can hear elements of both in songs like "Long, Long Time". That's an emotional journey in itself and where does it take you? Well, that's up to you all, where you stand, Olympian Fall.