Patrick Lester-Rourke
What A Year
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This Album was born out of two periods of my life. The first was the most difficult year of my life, October 2016-October 2017. The second being my experiences during the 2020 Covid-19 crises.
Oct 2016-Oct 2017 was difficult for a multitude of personal and work-related reasons. Aside from it being the year I was heavily involved in creating six albums (This includes my debut; 'Identity', Punch The Sky's 'The Grand Bazaar', Joe Broughtons Conservatoire Folk Ensemble album 'Painted') I also wrote and produced two other tracks; 'What A Year' and 'A Difficult Choice'. I have been looking for an excuse to release these ever since.
When Covid-19 hit I was in the middle of creating a brand new project which had to be put on hold. However, I still wanted to create something that might serve as a precursor to my future partnership with Lee Griffiths, Andrew Woodhead and Nathan Jones. Out of this came the remote-recorded production of 'The Strain' and 'Viral'.
Whilst producing 'The Strain' and 'Viral' I realised that it would be a perfect excuse to finally release 'What A Year' and 'A Difficult Choice'. I threw in a live-improv solo I had just recorded and thus was born this mini-album!
I feel that as a piece of work, it perfectly encapsulates how I felt back then and how I feel now. I hope you find something to enjoy and that it can help palliate your own feelings as it did mine.
