On Carpet Weavers, Imperfection, and Live Takes

We had a lot of visitors to the small town of Selcuk in western Turkey when I was a child. This involved taking our guests on tour after tour of the ruins of Ephesus, the famous Selcuk Koftecisi (speciality Turkish meatballs) and now and then, we would pile into our old banger of a car and head over to one of the Turkish carpet wholesalers. 

The Turkish carpet tours were fascinating, from the reeling of raw silk thread from cocoons, to the talented local weavers, working hour after hour on delicate, stunning silk carpets. 

On one of my first trips, our tour guide said something that stuck with me for many, many years. He said, “Every weaver will leave an intentional mistake in every carpet.” An American in our group looked taken aback. “Why would they do that?” he asked, incredulously. The guide smiled, his eyes sparkling a little. 

“To acknowledge that perfection belongs solely to the divine and to err is human.” 

Whether you take that in a religious tone or not, I still love the sentiment. I always have. 

“We get it wrong again. We improve together, then ultimately succeed. Because this is what being alive is. And it's better than the alternative.” - Doctor Who, Eve of the Daleks

All my life, people have told me they love it most when I play and sing guitar live. As a creative escapist who loves to build up massive productions with my music, I used to find that a bit frustrating. You don’t want to hear the worlds I can make you, you want to hear me on my twangy little guitar? 

But I’m starting to get it. I love hearing the raw, acoustic version of my favourite artists’ songs, even better when it’s a voice memo of them writing the song. Off key, missing words, but so full of that first energy you get when you write something new. 

A couple of weeks ago I sat down in my studio to record an acoustic EP to put out on Bandcamp, using a similar philosophy. Two mics, one take, no tuning and keeping all the imperfections. I documented the process in a short studio vlog ahead of its release on Friday 6th November.