The Cure to the problem you didn’t know you had
That was the catchiest title I could find for this album!
How did this album come about?
It must have been around September 2021, still in the middle of the never ending Covid period, I had recently finished MCMLXXIX and the Spektah remixes, I had had the idea for a while to make an “acoustic” album, I wanted to make something “softer” without any hard beats are electronic elements. So I started playing the guitar, writing and improvising everyday, the songs appeared out of nowhere in a matter of weeks. I wanted to create something in the vein of Manu Chao’s first album and The Fugees acoustic stuff. I ended up not managing to keep the music as minimal as I had initially planned, adding subtle drums and instruments here and there. One thing I did was to create a sound palette in Logic (Studio software) and stick more or less to the same range of instruments in each song, meaning I could work a lot faster, and that the overall sound was somewhat homogenous.
Various themes emerged based around nostalgia towards a more innocent 80’s pre internet, reflected in the songs “No cookies” (cookie pop ups drive me mad! “Nota Robot” (as do captchas).
Social commentary came out in “Serf” a bleak look at our capitalist consumer society, “All is his” sings of a demonic Columbus-esque character colonising pillaging and stealing.
Ill Will uses a play of words with the different meanings of will in order to make a repetitive rhyme pattern with Will will ..
Will n1 = future
A will = a testament
The will = energy – the will to live
Will = William.
The songs is in a 3/4 time or 6/8, and I’ve found I often write in this time signature as opposed to the classic 4/4.
Nofra Jet speaks of a refugee who leaves his harsh conditions behind and makes a perilous journey to the UK, only to find that he is not welcome, he ends up living in equally harsh conditions to what he left behind so he decides to go back home.
Vijion is about the state of younger generations today, and the effect of social media, gaming and influencers.
Lil Hobo is a song I’d wanted to make for ages, “The littlest Hobo” was a show I used to watch as a kid, it’s about a German Shepard Alsatian dog that travels from place to place always helping people and stopping the bad guys, he always makes new friends, but at the end of each episode he always leaves and sets off on his path. I always found something a bit sad about this show. But then in real life, I ended up moving and changing schools multiple times, I think I’ve moved more than the average person. Right now I can count 18 times that I have moved house, including 9 as a child before leaving home. Changing schools I would always feel that I would never be truly part of the other groups that had been together since they were babies. Then moving house, losing friends, making new friends then moving again, it all seemed to echo the TV series. So the song is kin of about all that, it’s also one of my first bilingual songs, featuring verses in French and English.
The French parts are somewhat inspired by the book “Voyage au bout de la nuit” by Celine.
The album name is somewhat inspired by the vaccine that was being offered at the time, it was a cure to a problem we didn’t know we had.
But also I like the idea that the album could be a cure for someone, it could help them in their lives though they didn’t know they needed it!
My favourite song was No Cookies, I love the dreamy landscape feel of it.
Overall I think it’s my best, most adventurous album ever and I’m very proud of it!
Spotify algorithms picked up on Where’s Will taking it to 160k plays as of Nov 2025 making it my second most played song ever!
I did remixes of No Cookies and Ill Will, making them more “Hip Hop” which I really like too.
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