The Guitar

 

This is my 2011 Fender Villager 12-string. This has been my main guitar since January 2012, taking over from a borrowed Yamaha APX-500. I love this guitar for the way it looks, the way it plays and – most importantly – the way it sounds. 

The reason that I decided to switch from mainly playing a 6-string to a 12-string is partly due to the type of music that I was listening to in 2011. At the time I was listening to The Coral’s “Butterfly House” album, and discovered a version of the album that was stripped back with only acoustic instruments. The way that the band used 6 and 12-strings mesmerised me, and I decided to look for a 12-string.

After my 20th birthday in December 2011, I started looking at different makes of guitar, and came across the Villager on the internet. I immediately loved the look of the guitar, and took the plunge. And ever since getting the guitar, I’ve almost been unable to put it down!

This guitar is the guitar featured on all guitar parts in the recordings. The effect of the jangle-y sound is particularly noticeable on “Drizzlepaint”, with its four guitar parts. 

“Paint The Sky Tonight”

The first of the three songs written for this project is called “Paint The Sky Tonight” and was inspired by Vincent van Gogh’s 1889 work “The Starry Night” At the time of the painting being created van Gogh was living in an asylum close to Arles in the south of France. The painting was done at night-time, and depicts a wonderful panorama of stars, the moon and clouds above a peaceful village, blissfully unaware of the activity above in the sky. 

The song’s lyrics come for the perspective of someone watching van Gogh at work on the painting. Despite van Gogh’s unstable mental state, he was able to come up with something wonderful – however, he spurned the artwork after finishing it. This may seem strange – especially given the painting’s elevated status within the art world today. 

I first saw this painting when I was 12 and the detailing of the painting impressed me particularly. The painting is a classic example of the impressionist style that made van Gogh so well-known alongside other impressionists such as Claude Monet and Edgar Degas. 

You can hear the song here at: http://twelvestringsthreepaintings.bandcamp.com/track/paint-the-sky-tonight