Words Falling Slow – Brand New World

Words Falling Slow is a twice weekly blog series written by Michael Timmins in which he writes about the writing, recording, history and inspiration behind some of the songs included in the Notes Falling Slow box set. You can pre-order Notes Falling Slow here. You can listen to a new recording from the box set here.

In 2006 I had three children all under the age of ten. Life was chaotic, busy, noisy and, more often than not, stressful. The band was entering its 20^th year and we were all scrambling to keep as many balls in the air as humanly possible, juggling was a way of life. That year I set out to write a new album and, for the first time, I decided to focus my writing along a single (albeit broad) theme: family. Family, not just from the perspective of parenthood, but also from son to father, husband to wife, generation to generation. The result was At The End Of Paths Taken.

Brand New World is the opening track to the album and the intent was for it to lay the groundwork for the album’s concept. Here was a set of songs about the confusion, frustration, delight and heartbreak of family relationships. Twenty years earlier I was single, childless, and my only concern was music and the band that I was forming, suddenly I found myself (like a lot of you) in this brand new world of complicated and labyrinthine relationships and my head, more often than not, was spinning….and occasionally my heart went missing.

Source: Cowboy Junkies