Star date: 18th March 2017

SALFORD SONG NO LONGER 'LOST'

Metropolis Studios is the world's largest independent recording complex, where the likes of Adele, Elton John and Freddie Mercury have recorded. And its founders have been searching for the next great songs that have been written but never published or recorded.

Last year they brought out the first compilation of Lost Songs, and on 31st March comes the second compilation which features songwriters from Nigeria, South Africa and Salford, courtesy of Zak Taylor-Fray, currently at Salford University. Ian Leslie went to have a word with Zak.

Full details here...

'Songwriters included on Lost Songs Volume 2 come from diverse backgrounds, and from as far and wide as Essex, Nigeria, South Africa and Salford'

Lost Songs is a compilation of 16 tracks, carefully selected by founder, Alun Davies, aka Adman. Also lending a helping hand is the A&R team at London's iconic Metropolis Studios. Metropolis is the world's largest independent recording complex and the very same studio where artists like Adele, Elton John and Freddie Mercury have recorded their music.

However, the concept behind Lost Songs is to shine a light on the multitude of songwriters who have gone largely unnoticed and not had their lucky break. In a spirit reminiscent of John Peel, the Lost Songs team have meticulously gone through stacks of demos that have been previously discarded and offered them to a wider audience.

Lost Songs Volume 1 released songs from the garages and bedrooms, and gave them the chance to be recorded, mixed and mastered in the world famous Metropolis Studios, West London. That first album, released back in August, generated a notable amount of media attention, which in turn led to even more submissions for Lost Songs Volume 2.

With over 1,000 entries to choose from, Adman and the Metropolis Studios team sought to find 16 melodies that hooked them in. As Adman explains, "In LS1 we were emphasising a reality, namely that all popular music started with the same thing - a song".

The songs are as extremely eclectic, representing the diverse and vibrant nature of British singer songwriters, and the cosmopolitan nature of pop culture. Songwriters included on Lost Songs Volume 2 come from diverse backgrounds, and from as far and wide as Essex, Nigeria, South Africa. And Salford.

One of the songwriters hand-picked to feature on the album is Salford based musician Zak Taylor-Fray. Zak is currently studying Popular Music and Recording at Salford University...

"I found out about Lost Songs after searching the internet for song-writing competitions one day" he explains "My influence as a songwriter is Max Martin, the songwriter behind many of the big pop stars' songs."

Zak is a gifted young artist with a host of unusual and interesting influences... "I'm mainly a guitar player and my favourite music to listen to is 50s and 60s Country and Jazz, from Chet Atkins and Jimmy Bryant to Grant Green" he says "I have recently been playing bass guitar with a Manchester band called TAMSYN, but left to concentrate on hopefully setting up my own vocal group."

Interest in the Lost Songs brand is increasing rapidly; in fact, they are already looking forward to the third instalment of the series. The Lost Songs team are keen to invite readers of the Salford Star to submit their songs. The submission window for the next album is now open...

Zak's single Be Mine is available on The Lost Songs Volume 2 out March 31st

Submissions for Lost Songs 3 are now being considered. For further details see
www.lostsongsmusic.com

Words by Ian Leslie