Wilderness of Zin

Today is my 33⅓ birthday. I am stupidly excited about this. So to celebrate, I am going to upload a song!

The seeds for this song were sown back in the mists of time, when I was a sprightly 18 year old. I was in my final year of secondary school, and had formed my first band, the inspiringly named Psychedelic Curtains. We were nominally a 4 piece – three guitarists and drummer (none of us owned a bass), and I had semi-taught the other two guitarists to play. We never actually all managed to get in a room together at the same time to play – three of us jammed once or twice together.

In reality, the band ended up being a two-piece. Two guitars, one voice (I hadn’t built up the courage to sing in front of anyone else at this stage). We wrote a short album-worth of material and recorded it on a little tape deck in my bedroom. We called the album The Wilderness Of Zin, after discovering the niftily named region on a map of the Negev desert in Israel. We even had a couple of t-shirts printed (coincidentally, I was wearing what’s left of mine today). The picture used on the t-shirt was one I took of a school mate of ours, who has since gone on to bigger and better things*.

The song Wilderness of Zin was not written for the album Wilderness of Zin, but came into being a year or so later, when I was feeling nostalgic. This recording was done almost a decade later, in 2005, using an old iMac and ProTools Free. Two vocal tracks, two guitar tracks, three chords. Simples.

I have a slightly older recording of the song (one guitar, one voice, three chords) with ever so slightly different lyrics, but this one is the superior version.

Here, have a listen:

Disclaimer: I have never been to the Wilderness Of Zin.

Wilderness Of Zin

I’m lost in the Wilderness of Zin.
A more desolate place you have not been in.
Wilderness of Zin.

I’m lost in the Wilderness of Zin.
Wherever else you go, you’ve always been
To the Wilderness of Zin

I’m lost in the Wilderness of Zin
Wilderness of Zin.

*Also coincidentally, I was wearing that t-shirt at the 2001 Reading Festival, the same day that Ladytron were playing, but I had no idea at the time that my old school friend was in the band!