Stripped Looking UP is a live EP that was recorded in a pop up studio when staying in a temporary house in early 2021. It marked a point where I was both restricted but free creatively and I enjoyed sitting in live session just me and my guitar during a fairly awful storm with our four kids running round and was miraculously able to record this EP live! Better was released in May as a single first to coincide with mental health awareness week but was recorded live at the same time for this EP.
Temptation
​
The temptation to just hide away
The temptation to put it off for another day
The temptation is real
The temptation to just do what I feel
Cos I’ve been running your route and I can’t see the dawn breaking
And I’ll admit I’m tempted to veer off on another path
But I know if I keep running with you
You’ll get me where I’m where meant to be somehow
Somehow
Somehow
The temptation is real
The temptation to just do what I feel
Cos I’ve been running your route and I can’t see the dawn breaking
And I’ll admit I’m tempted to veer off on another path
But I know if I keep running with you
You’ll get me where I’m where meant to be somehow
Somehow
Somehow
Somehow
Somehow
This is For
​
This is for the moments
Our sighs fill the space where our words should reach into
And this is for the times when
The air in between us seems to have formed into walls
And we're at a vast distance but not at all
The moment where we both need to
Let go and just
Breathe
Yeah
Because
I was made for you and you for me
Its the world that gets in the way
Gets caught in between
When did we forget to love first when
Did we lose track and let it hurt
I'm sorry
This is for the moments
I let words turn to poison and don't give the antidote
And this is for the times when
My world crumbles down and I pull you in with me so I'm not alone
It's selfish I know I see it
The moment where we both need to
Let go and just
Breathe
Yeah
Because I was made for you and you for me
Its the world that gets in the way
Gets caught in between
When did we forget to love first when
Did we lose track and let it hurt
I was made for you and you for me
Its the world that gets in the way
Gets caught in between
When did we forget to love first when
Did we lose track and let it hurt
I'm sorry
And this is for the moment
I don't give you what you deserve I treat you through eyes of hurt
And this is for the times when
I don't acknowledge your simple requests
Or get stuck hearing words that you don't say
I guess I'm wired a different way
The moment where we both need to
Let go and just
Breathe
Yeah
Because I was made for you and you for me
Its the world that gets in the way
Gets caught in between
When did we forget to love first when
Did we lose track and let it hurt
I was made for you and you for me
Its the world that gets in the way
Gets caught in between
When did we forget to love first when
Did we lose track and let it hurt
I'm sorry Yeah
Don't let the sun
Go down on your anger
And say sorry
Say sorry
Yeah
Say sorry
Truth
​
Knock backs unrelenting past
No fast track back from falling fast
I gave you all I had left
Dropped it into your hand
Nothing censored or unsaid
Completely yours
But what’s the truth about me
Yay what’s the truth about me
Rewind untangle
Take me back to the foundation
Back beyond the start of my story
You’ve woven them in
Beneath my thick skin
Theres nothing that can take them away
Rediscover the truth of you today
But what’s the truth about me
Yay what’s the truth about me
Cos I’m yours
All yours
Im not my own
Or my past indiscretions
I’m yours
All yours
I’m not my own
All my past tribulations
I’m yours
That’s the truth about me
That’s he truth about me
That’s the truth about me
Cos I’m yours
All yours
I’m not my own
Or my past indiscretions
I’m yours
All yours
I’m not my own
Or my past tribulations
I’m yours
And that’s the truth about me
That’s the truth about me
Thats the truth about me
Thats the truth about me
Take me Back
​
Take me back to that shore where
The waves lapped at my feet
And we heard the sound of joy burst
From our children's rock pool glee
Take me back back to those views where
No one needs to speak
And when my heart seems to have shifted
Now it knows where it should be
How can I make a way
When all this is impossible
I lay my requests with
The king of impossibility
Take me back to the moment
Where I felt like I could breathe
Where exploring and adventures
Were freedom for our feet
Take me back to that time when
We shared a common dream
Even for just a second
We were in perfect unity
How can I make a way
When all this is impossible
I lay my request with
The king of impossibility
How can I make a way
When all this is impossible
I lay my request with
The king of impossibility
Better released in May 2021 to coincide with Mental Health Awareness week. Recorded live during a period of unknown temporary housing with a minimal studio setup it was purposely stark and vulnerable.
Better
​
She smiles but beneath it lies a hidden truth
She hides from the chance to make a change
The weight hangs around her neck like a tailored noose
Why does it fall in line never rearranged
She steps is it caution or a leap of faith
For you she might just wear some kind of socially acceptable face
But inside the feelings they are beavering away
Knocking the little confidence she has left today
Why am I so unhappy
Oh well what's happiness anyway
Will anything make it better
Oh well what's better anyway
Standing at the kitchen sink talking out loud to you
Tears streaming down her face
The crushing depths of reality of her inadequacies laid down
It was meant to be so different
Why am I so unhappy
Oh well what's happiness anyway
And will anything make it better
Oh well what's better anyway
Her sombre heart is on the floor again
Mind like thick fog resting waiting for the winds of change
Does she want to fight this anymore
What is this status she's living for
She found something that gave her hope to carry on
A love like no other she'd ever known
She didn't have to get it right or wrong
Cos this love made her unconditionally belong
Why am I so unhappy
Oh well what's happiness anyway
And will anything make it better
Oh well what's better anyway
It was today