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The Grounding Process Stripped down versions of tracks from Flicker. On my debut solo album The View From Halfway Down I did all of my promotion via Zoom and prerecorded interviews and acoustic sessions, explains Andy of the EP. I enjoyed making the acoustic versions and decided to do some more for this album. Something Like Love is the most popular song from Flicker and one of the oldest, starting life in the 90s. Its probably the only one that dates back to the Ride era. The riffs for World Of Echo were written while I was on tour with Oasis, at the height of my Las obsession. It went through a few iterations from then onwards, but never had a final melody until last year. She Calls The Tune was the first song I wrote after I joined Oasis, ending a period of writers block which I had started going through some time in 1999. The very first performance of it was to an audience of Liam Gallagher, Gem Archer and Richard Ashcroft in a Milan hotel room. No pressure I dont think I ever saw this as an Oasis song, but I have them to thank for the fact that I was able to write songs again at all. Lifeline was another riff I came up with while on tour with Oasis. I remember being on a UK tour with Shack, and sitting around backstage on acoustics with Mick and John Head jamming around the Simon amp Garfunkel version of Scarborough Fair. The riff for Lifeline followed soon after. It was always called Lifeline but I never found the right lyric for it until recently.Untitled Film StillsSongs that inspired Flicker by Yoko Ono, Pentangle, The Kinks and Arthur Russell. The idea was that I would be covering songs which helped in some way to colour in the edges of the picture of the influences that make up Flicker, explains Andy. The song Jenny Holzer B. Goode on the album refers to a few of the female artists from the music and art worlds who I find inspiring, including Yoko Ono, so it felt right to include a cover of Listen, The Snow Is Falling, my favourite Yoko Ono song. Pentangles Light Flight came out in 1970, the year I was born, and Ive loved it ever since I heard it on the 1997 folk compilation Transatlantic Ticket. Nat Cramp, the head honcho of Sonic Cathedral, requested that I cover The Way Love Used To Be. Id never heard this song despite being a big fan of The Kinks, but its lovely and it felt very natural to do a version of. All hail Ray Davies Arthur Russell has been a big reference point for all my music away from band world. There is something impressionistic and openended about his records. I guess you could describe the production style Im trying for on Our Last Night Together as World Of Echo meets This Mortal Coil doing Skip Spence. I Am A Strange Loop It was so great to see what came back when I gave these tracks from Flicker to various comrades, friends and heroes to play with, says Andy. Theyve given them a new technicolour life. David Holmes requested the opening track as he had formed a bit of a connection with it, and what he came up with turns the song into an hallucinogenic beast, taking pride of place here as the opening track but in a whole different way to how Flicker opens. James Chapman AKA Maps has taken It Gets Easier to a bigger, brighter and shinier place, hes given quite a downbeat track a euphoric and epic sheen. James is an absolute master of electronic production and hes taken the same care and attention over this remix as he does with his own wonderful music. I couldnt put Richard Norris lovely widescreen take on Something Like Love better than the man himself ndash in his own words he found the hitherto undiscovered sweet spot between Roscoe and Outdoor Miner and he tapped into the melancholy euphoria at the core of the song. bdrmms remix of Way Of The World is one for headphones. There are so many great moments to love, all held together by a bassline worthy of Jah Wobble by way of Andrew Weatherall. Astonishing Andy Bell Bundle is available for home delivery from Vinyl Records London, only £51 +P&P