Cai mixed Angels in Drag and Higher Deeper.
Cai and I vaguely knew each other from Belfast, from the good old days of the coolest gig in town, ‘The Warehouse’, where he worked as in-house engineer. He had come to London before me to work, finding mixing jobs for the likes of Jah Wobble and countless other sideways acts before I finally met him on the Foy Vance project in 2000.
I loved Cai’s vibe from the word go. He just DID things. Didn’t always tell you WHAT he was doing, but he did it nonetheless. Always ready to go the extra distance when needed. He became my favourite all-round engineer to work with for that very reason. We always worked in Intimate, my favourite London studio, mostly because of its laidback vibe.
After my return from Ireland and the main mixing session, I did a bit of extra work on the song ‘Angels In Drag’, adding some Liam Bradley-played tambourine, and the mix of Higher Deeper wasn’t what I was looking for – we’d rushed it a little, as it was last to be mixed. So I called Cai, who was just about to leave for Japan, and booked him to come in and do the mixes. I was lucky to catch him – he was literally flying out a couple of days later.
He really delivered the symphonic quality I wanted for the track Angels In Drag itself, and got Higher Deeper motoring along exactly as I had hoped it would. It was such a productive session, and my delight in Cai’s work reaffirmed his position as engineer number one for me. I was sad he had to go to Japan – strange the places life takes us. At any rate, I’m sure he’ll do well out there as he is so good at what he does. Just hope I have enough money to fly him back for the next album.
You’ll hear his handiwork soon enough…