Fear Of The Thing Itself

Fear Of The Thing Itself
The Harlequin Kings
2015

Detail from Fear Of The Thing Itself Detail from Fear Of The Thing Itself Detail from Fear Of The Thing Itself

Track List
1. Fear Of The Thing Itself (3:42)
2. Incomplete Version Of The Writer (3:52)
3. Two Parents Of A Child (2:07)
4. An Autumn Tale (2:28)
5. I Love You For Your Money (3:26)
6. Mnahaffirmation (1:15)
7. Between Sanity And Madness Gotten Finer (4:33)
8. Joey Deacon: The Best Spastic In The World (2:15)
9. Nancy Reagan Fell Down And Broke Her Hair (2:41)
10. Warm Comfy Sofa (1:59)
11. Norman Bates (4:42)
12. Over A Red Horizon (4:39)
13. I Can Heal (4:16)
14. Light Blue Evening (2:01)
15. The Invisible Man (3:12)

About This Album
Mark Sheeky wrote a few songs as a child but he started writing songs in earnest, as opposed to purely instrumental music, in 2002 after a dream in which the song 'I Love You For Your Money' - complete with words and music, magically appeared. At the time of this release, very few of these had been recorded. Fear of the Thing Itself was Sheeky's first attempt at recording and singing some these songs himself. As with the development of his oil painting, Mark's aim was to learn by doing.

These songs are complex compositions with a variety of influences; Freddie Mercury, David Bowie, Kate Bush, Pink Floyd; artistic giants from the nineteen-seventies and eighties. Mark wanted a similar sound to that era too, avoiding too much dynamic compression (that is, avoiding a loud, hard-set constant volume), and things like pitch correction.

Some of these early songs were later re-recorded and released on subsequent albums such as The Dusty Mirror and The Myth of Sisyphus.