Hit The North: The Great Escape

Chris Heaney can always be relied on to do things properly: to commit to his craft, to search his soul for material, to work that material into surprising, magical shapes. And Post Adventure On The Moon, the third album from Escape Act, could be the best collection of songs he’s ever been associated with.

So, who better then to talk us through one of the front-runners for local album of the year?
‘It Starts To Burn’
This was the first time we tried three-part harmony live around one mic, which was great fun. I recorded many of the backing vocals on the record with Andy Miller and Pat Vandeleur, co-producers and members of Scottish group Pan. It was the first one that sounded good and so the others had to come up to this standard. It was originally called ‘Wrecking Ball’ but Miley Cyrus ruined that.
‘Until I’m Done I Can’t Relax’
Rehearsing and writing the songs involved driving up and down the M1 to my parent’s garage where I keep my drum-kit. The song is about that process and how the songs wouldn’t leave me alone until I took them as far as I could.
‘We Bumped Into Love’
Memories of growing up, bus journeys in the rain with my earphones in and going out with my friends, who were very important to me back then. Then you meet the girl and the gang falls apart but that’s okay. It’s how it’s meant to be. The string arrangement on this is pretty special to me, a bit like time travel.
‘Kevin Drain’
A character song based on a real person who really drained the life out of me for the short period of weeks I knew them. Very unusual for me to base a song on somebody but I confess that individual really irritated me and I needed to let the frustration out! It’s mean’t to be a light-hearted lyric really, although I’ve met a few more Kevin Drains since!
‘How Can I Reach You?’
Definitely the grown-up song on the record. Time passing. What are you doing? Where are you going? All that kind of stuff... hopefully again with a lightness to the words.
‘Hungry Vultures’
Probably the hardest-sounding song. There are actual vulture cries on the track; we wanted to make the music a bit nastier than the rest of the album. I really liked doing the drums and guitars on this one.
‘Don’t You Think We Should Stop?’
Like 'Kevin Drain' this was written on piano. It’s a big contrast to 'Hungry Vultures' and I was trying to do a bit of a Vaudeville-type song. Some nice trumpet from BBC Radio Ulster presenter Linley Hamilton, who also plays a solo on the last song. I visited him at his house and recorded him playing in his kitchen. He was in the throes of dealing with the Ulster Bank computer crisis but endearingly grateful I’d bothered to transpose the parts for him. These memories remind me how far I was going to get the sounds I wanted.
‘My Heart Is Open Source’
Andy Miller (producer ) wrote the lyrics for this one and sang the lead vocal. It’s a more experimental, groove-based song which we think gives the album nice variety.
‘A Dream That Wakes You Up’
There are a lot of tracks on this song; I think we crashed Pro Tools at one point. It still sounds pretty simple to me... nice one Andy! It was one of the first songs we recorded and we just kept messing with it and adding new ideas until we ran out of time. I like the bassline... bass enthusiasts should check it out!
'Post Adventures On The Moon'
This song is a mixture of a narrative and things I’ve experienced when I was younger and a bit less aware of how people affect you. The last line in the lyric is ‘the story always ends thus’. A nice place to finish.