Warby - Mystic Powers Warby

The debut LP from art-rock and soul inspired singer & songwriter WARBY

On 28th of August art-rock and soul inspired singer & songwriter WARBY is to finally release his much anticipated debut album ‘Mystic Powers’. That same day he will also play his first solo show.
Having spent a lifetime encouraging others to tour and record, WARBY is steeped in music and live touring, has run indie labels, recorded with the group R.O.C, occasionally performing live; but has never released or performed any of his own songs before now.
"I was always going to sing, be a musician” says WARBY “like my Dad, but in my early twenties I was pulled further and further into the business of live music by a succession of phenomenal artists. I continued writing on and off for years, but as the thrills and spills of working with other musicians and my concert booking role expanded I could never truly find enough time to develop my ideas fully.”

In 2020 as the world shut down and touring ground to a halt, a seemingly permanently busy WARBY suddenly found that he had the luxury of time on his hands. He began to work on writing songs, recording home demos of himself singing, playing guitar, bass and keyboards over programmed drums, and it soon became clear that a substantial amount of ideas and music now existed.
"When it came to the writing and recording of these songs…well, what started as a relatively gentle sensation, become more insistent until it was hammering at my very being. I had no choice other than to get them down."
Going into and coming out of covid proved to be very challenging times; the loss of close family and friends coupled with great stress over returning to ’normal’ life. It during this time WARBY experienced a personal revelation and the themes of ‘Mystic Powers’ explore that. "One strong theme was how life may propel you down one path rather than another, I then questioned what would happen if you had taken or took a different decision. I had this idea of a soft-determinism, where your life is mostly mapped out for you, but you have some small degree of choice. I’ve also looked hard into fear and loss and what might be available to help those in pain."

MOJO * * * * ALBUM REVIEW

One piece of unexpected salvation was offered by an unplanned visit to Birmingham Cathedral. An anxious WARBY briefly took refuge here one afternoon during a period of great turmoil. "I was gazing at the Byrne-Jones stained glass windows and was especially drawn to one called the ‘Ascension’ window. On my way out I bought a postcard of a detail of the window, a hand of benediction. I couldn’t believe how contemporary it looked, in fact it turned out that the postcard came from a painting of sections of the windows made by a local artist when the windows had been restored.”
WARBY instantly knew that this image was the front cover of his as yet unrecorded album and a seemingly divine metaphor for the record; even parallel lines meet in the end. “It perfectly expressed powers that were being offered to me, that substance of which might be passed on in song. The best way to resolve my problems wasn’t to hold onto them, keep them in, or to try and think my way through them. I needed to let them go."
‘Mystic Powers’ was produced by James Knight, who gave WARBY space to work up the arrangements in his studio located in a roomy basement in Stoke Newington.
WARBY called upon his friends Mal Troon (Jim Jones, Sea Power) on lead guitar and Patrick Nicholson (R.O.C, Mark Eitzel) on piano and and the tight rhythm section of Adam Betts (Pulp, Dave Gilmour) on drums and Dan Drury (Jarvis Cocker, James Taylor Quartet) on bass.
Prior to recording, WARBY played James and the band a selection of songs to inspire them including Harry Nilsson, The Isley Brothers, Gene Clark and The Stylistics and together they recorded the 13 songs that make up the album.