NEW MUSIC; 'Meet At The Light' by Jack Saunders

New music from artists in the Somerset area keep landing in our inbox, and we think it’s great to see. Especially in times like these, it’s brilliant to see people still being creative.

This week, we talk to Jack Saunders, a twenty-one year old singer / songwriter from Yeovil, who recently released his debut single Meet At The Light, an acoustic driven song written about his Grandad.

Frazer Mitchell; Hi Jack, thanks for chatting to us today, how are you getting on?

Jack Saunders; Hi Frazer! I'm doing very good thank you, Its great to be chatting to you again!

FM; So what have you been up to over the last year? I assume you’ve had very few gigs like the rest of us!

Jack; Yeah unfortunately with everything that's going on I've not really had too many gigs. However I had a very active December, gig wise, which was amazing. It was truly wonderful to get out there and be able to perform! But yeah, not many gigs unfortunately so I've just been writing new songs, rewriting old songs and just trying to improve as a musician in general!

FM; So you submitted a song called Meet At The Light, if I’m right in thinking, this song has quite a personal meaning to you?

Jack; Yes definitely! I wrote it after the passing of my Grandad in 2019 after a long battle with Dementia. I remember thinking, how strange it was after the funeral that we're just supposed to get on with life and just eventually forget about this once great man and all the feelings that he made us feel. So me being a songwriter, I decided to try and write a song about him and the memories he gave myself. What resulted was Meet At The Light, which is still after almost two years of existing, my favourite song that I have written. Now I can share those memories he gave me with the world and leave him a bit of a legacy.

FM; Where did you get the song recorded? What was the process behind the track to get it to where it is now?

Jack; The song was recorded in Dorset, with my friend Josh, who runs JGE studios. The song was finished after two sessions roughly, so it was a very quick process. We recorded the foundations of the track during the first session, when it was originally about five minutes long, had three verses and was just pretty much acoustic. Then, for the second session, we trimmed it down so it's the length it is now, and when performing the song live with a loop pedal, I would often experiment with backing vocals and trying to make it sound like a choir. So when it came to recording the second time, I knew it was something I wanted to add! I also had the idea of something like an orchestra so it made it feel like the song was being sung in a church, and I really feel like those two things combined really make the song as powerful as it is.

FM; So with the lack of gigs in 2020 and the early stages of 2021, have you been writing more music?

Jack; Yes definitely! Although 2020 in a whole was a quiet year, like I said I had a very active Christmas period! I was performing at least three times a week at one point all around Somerset, and then I had the two gigs with Antix in the Quedam which had to have been my favourite ones! It was a great way to close out what had been a very strange year with some sort of normality in playing gigs! As for the songwriting, I took a brief break throughout January, but just finished a song the other day called Behind Blue Eyes which is sounding really good and has left me with many ideas floating around in my head!

FM; How has lockdown been treating you? Has lockdown had an affect on you as a musician?

Jack; Absolutely! Throughout the first lockdown I was so motivated with writing music! However that wasn't the case for this second one. I'm not sure if it was all the starting and stopping with being able to perform, but I just felt burnt out and unmotivated with music as a whole. However in the past week I've really found my spark again and after writing my first song of 2021 I'm back ready to go again!

FM; So what’s the future for you, will we be seeing more releases from you soon?

Jack; The future is looking bright and busy! Once lockdown is over and travel is allowed, I'll be back in the studio and will be recording my next single called My Mistake. Its alot different than Meet At The Light, its very high tempo, high energy, and has a chorus that everyone can singalong with, so I'm itching to get back into the studio so I can get that recorded and then can hopefully switch my focus to the remaining two songs I have left to record before I can finally release my debut E.P!

FM; Thanks for chatting with us Jack, and best of luck with your single!

Jack; Thank you mate! See you soon.

#GetInvolved with Jack Saunders over on Facebook here; https://www.facebook.com/JackSaundersMusic/